


My Merman

by GumbaBunny



Series: Sea Shenanigans [1]
Category: Dead by Daylight (Video Game)
Genre: Anal Fingering, First Time, Happy Ending, Im late to mermay but we dont question this, Jake gets hurt a lot but its ok, M/M, Mermaid!Jake, Mermaids have emotional magic, Michael is a Tease, Slow Burn, Teasing, mermaid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-01
Updated: 2020-06-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 19:13:42
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 29,777
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24491833
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GumbaBunny/pseuds/GumbaBunny
Summary: Jake has seen the horrors of the surface above the ocean time and time again. Too close to the surface is dangerous. Jake knew this, watching The Hunters search and kill as many merpeople as they could find ruthlessly.Now, here he was, stuck in a net. How was he going to get out of this one?
Relationships: Michael Myers/Jake Park
Series: Sea Shenanigans [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1776802
Comments: 26
Kudos: 188





	1. The Escape

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first story in a while, so I am sorry if it is not that great. Also I know I’m late to mermay but we wont question that.
> 
> [I made artwork of a scene in chapter 3 (It isn't exactly spoilers)](https://gumbabunny.tumblr.com/post/620108088908857344/made-a-scene-from-my-fanfiction)

At an early age, Jake was taught to never swim to the surface. It was dangerous and almost certain death above. Those who went there either never came back, or were traumatized and would not speak, harboring many fatal wounds and speaking of The Hunters that came from small, floating islands that moved fast.

The Hunters had been terrorizing the merpeople for over 200 years, slowly dwindling them off one by one. It had sent them to the depths long before Jake was born. They kept track of how these Hunters attacked them. With long spears that were silver, used to stab at short range or could be shot at them. Others were traps, hidden among the sea floor, or floating.

Jake absolutely hated his life. While he was well off, he hated hiding in the dark abyss, always looking up as though The Hunters would decent down and start a massacre. Their food did not live down here. After years of hunting and survival, the fish realized that they could survive by going up. This made food scarce.

Their society was purely that of hierarchy. While they could see near perfect in the abyss, it was black and white. The hierarchy was based on fin color. Royals, like the King, were shiny purples and reds. The rest were considered servants of the royals. However, since his people fled to the abyss, this was ruled out slowly over the years, but the king stayed the main ruler. It was now a hide or die situation.

Jake was going insane. His parents kept him and his brother inside at all times, fearful of the surface.

He would rather die than stay here. He had snuck out a few times and had loved the feeling of going anywhere.

Jake had already planned this for a few moons. His parents left at regular times. Every 9 moons, they would go out and return with bundles of supplies. He waited until he heard them quietly whispering, debating if they should leave. Every time they left they would do this.

‘Just leave already. The Hunters have never been able to come down here..’ Jake thought, agitated at his parents. Well, he wouldn’t have to worry about them.

He gripped his bag as they swam off. He only needed survival items he had stolen or kept over the years. Jake counted to 30 and swam out of the opening, quickly darting towards the walls.

His parents _were_ still nearby. Still, he liked the thrill of escaping. It gave him a feeling of life.

Jake swam across the ocean floor, glancing back from where he came, just incase someone followed. He never wanted to go back if it meant staying in a room for moons at a time.

For the first time in a long time, Jake smiled. It felt like a weight was lifted off of him, that he could do anything he wanted, go anywhere he wanted, and fight for himself.

He pushed off the floor and swam up. The surface was hundreds of feet above him, but the fear ingrained to him since his birth made him nervous.

He knew there was a possibility these hunters would find and kill him. But really, that was better than wasting his life away in his ‘safe home’ doing nothing. He would be living.

Jake noticed something off the corner of his eye and glanced over. He quickly ducked as a whale’s fin nearly smacked him dead on. Looking up towards its belly, he nearly died. Something huge like this existed, and he never had the chance to see it! Only in tales and writings. This was another experience.

Jake touched its belly as it swam forward, never noticing the merman’s actions. He already knew that he would love this life more than down there, even if it meant struggling to survive.

He quickly swam after the whale and grabbed onto its back as it went through the open ocean.

Smaller fish clung by the whale and stayed near it, much like how Jake was doing. He reached over and gently pet one. It was.. strange. He had only seen pre-killed fish, their only use was to be eaten. This one was looking at him and clearly had feelings.

Jake knew this because he could sense the fishes feelings. It was confused but enjoyed the touches.

Suddenly, the whale jolted and began to go upwards at high speeds.

‘Shit shit shit.’ Jake was panicking. Should he let go? It was going towards the surface at rapid speeds. Surface was death. He let go quickly and was knocked back from the current the whale made. Dizzy, Jake held his head and looked up. The water was turning another color- COLOR. He had never seen color before.

Jake swam up more and looked down at himself. He had a purple-silvery tail that was more grey than purple. Oh. So thats why his family was well off. They were royalty, or whatever. He didn’t care. His parents never brought it up, so he guessed it never mattered.

He looked up towards the whale, which was now a small, blurry dot. Whales went to the surface and came down, why couldn’t merpeople? What exactly are The Hunters?

Jake shook his head. He had to learn how to fend for himself now. Jake was glad he ate before he left. His next meal had to be in about 10 moons or he would get hungry and slowly starve. That was a long time to hunt and learn.

He took in a deep breath and swam up, towards the whale. Either he would die from The Hunters, or die from curiosity.

As he swam closer, he heard more and more strange noises. From fish and from some weird.. humming thing. He couldn’t pinpoint where it was coming from.

Jake followed where it got louder. He saw more fish as he neared, realizing he smelled blood. Odd.. what was going on?

He recognized the fish as sharks and bass, swimming around a specific area. Cautious. Jake slowed down and pulled his knife from his bag for defense. These Hunters could look like anything. The ones that returned never described them, only crying more at the thought. Were they fish? Were they rogue merpeople? He had no idea. For all he knew it could have been the whales.

Jake saw where the blood was coming from, snapping him out of his thoughts. A floating meat chunk. It wasn’t sinking or floating, which amazed him. The fish were all caution around it, nibbling it and fleeing. Why were they scared of it?

He noticed a few more and watched. Jake wasn’t hungry, so he wouldn’t go for the food himself. A bass finally swam up towards one slowly and took a bite. Almost instantly it was yanked towards the surface.

The feeling of _pain_ , _panic_ , and _escape_ flooded his senses from the bass caught. It fought hard, and that’s when Jake noticed a thin ling from the meat.

He recognized it as one of the traps merpeople use to catch fish. It was a lure line. Jake swam up to the line and cut it quickly before darting back down lower. He glanced to where the string came from, seeing a dark hazy shape.

That had to be the small, floating island they talked about Hunters used. Jake felt fear he had never felt before and was frozen. The Hunters were right there and he didn’t know it! He was going to die. He was going to-

The bass he saved brushed against him, looking at him as it swam off. Jake calmed down for a moment and realized that the fish seemed slightly alright being near the tint floating island. Weary, but fine. The Hunters clearly hunted fish, but differently than merpeople. Why?

Jake gripped his knife. There had to be a reason. He had to know.

The small floating island suddenly made a roaring noise and sped off, faster than Jake had seen any fish swim. It created huge waves as it went.

Not right now. He would figure it out later, but at a slower, more careful pace. Jake swam after it though, not trying to catch up with it, but to see where it was going. To a new spot to hunt? To a Hunters home?? He tried to imagine what a Hunters home would look like, and nearly laughed at himself.

Thinking of how these murderers lived? No. He was just going to watch and learn.

Jake spent hours swimming. His tail was cramping and he was tired, not used to this amount of exercise from staying in a small cave all day since he was born.

He sighed and gave up for now, swimming down towards the ocean floor to rest. Jake thought it would be a long swim down, but to his shock it only took a few minutes. This side of the ocean was very.. shallow.

He didn’t know what to think of this. Jake found a big enough hiding spot among the coral and laid down, focusing on the emotions of the sealife around him. He was not used to this. Really, everything was new, but the amount of feelings he was getting from these sealife was almost overwhelming and hard to pinpoint.

He focused on the coral he was sleeping beside and managed to doze off.

When he awoke, he was perplexed. Everything was bright and quiet. He looked up towards the surface and saw a yellow, glowing thing.

‘The sun?’ Jake thought, scratching the back of his mind to see what he had read. Yeah, that was the sun. He pat the coral and gave it a ‘thanks’ before swimming towards where the small island went.

It wasn’t long before Jake realized the ocean floor was rising, and the surface sinking. The ocean was getting smaller, perhaps around 300 feet from each.

He really did not like this. Jake wasn’t a claustrophobic guy, but this was another level. Escape routes became scarce in smaller areas.

He was about to turn around when a school of fish swam through him quickly, all with the feeling of /fear/ and /flee/. He turned around to see a shark swimming directly at him.

“Oh shit.” He ducked just in time, but it turned to attack again. Jake fumbled to get his knife from his bag while dodging the creature. ‘Fuck fuck fuck- JUST GRAB THE KNIFE JAKE!’ He got ahold of it and turned to the shark. He ducked again and stabbed its stomach. It seemed to ignore the pain and slapped his hand, making him drop the knife. “FUCK!”

Jake swam down, trying to grab it. The shark swam after its new prey and bit his tail. He hissed from the pain and thrashed, facing the shark and punching its nose. It let go and swam off.

He looked at his tail and winced. He had new rips and cuts from the bite. Jake quickly looked down to see his knife nowhere.

“Damnit..” He swam down, searching for his only weapon. After a few fruitless minutes, Jake rested on the ocean floor and dug through his bag to pull out a clam. For merpeople, clams had healing properties, but only for minor things. He gently held it, sending it emotions of ‘please open. I’m hurt.’ Slowly, it did.

He mentally thanked it and let it do whatever it needed to do. As it gently clamped down on the tear that hurt the most, he looked up towards the surface. The humming was back. Faint at first, but growing. Jake knew it was The Hunters. In a few minutes, he saw 3 small islands rush overhead, creating huge waves and loud noises.

Were they looking for merpeople? Jake looked down at the clam, which was done using its slime to seal his wounds. He pet it for a moment before putting it back in his bag.

He knew islands had very small oceans. Was he headed to an island, since the ocean was gradually becoming smaller? He had to be. Did The Hunters live on these?

Jake got up and began to comb the nearby ocean floor for his knife. Where had it gone, seriously? This was annoying. He gave up after a few hours, making a mental note to carve a new one later.

He swam towards where he thought the island was. Jake was aware of his surroundings the entire time. He made notes of how many fish he saw, the types, and how close the surface was getting. His skin was tingling with fear and curiosity. What was the surface even like?

“Fuck it.” Jake didn’t give himself time to think. He swam up quickly (after looking around for any small floating islands) and looked at the surface, towards the moon.

He could see the waves and hear a strange whistling noise. ‘Dont think about it. Dont think about it..’

And Jake surfaced. It was.. not what he was expecting at all. He saw thousands of tiny specks and the moon perfectly. The surface had no water, and he found he couldn’t go up anymore. Instead it was like a.. void. Where he could feel and see water, he couldn’t with this.. this nothingness. He could feel something similar to that of a current though.

And the silence. Under the waves he could hear currents and fish from miles away. Up here? Nothing. He looked around quickly for any Hunters like in the stories those merfolk told, but none came. Nothing. It was like the ocean, but above, and full of tiny lights everywhere.

Jake loved it. He could feel the waves and the currents above the surface and it was just- just insane.

It was nice and calming. He felt himself relaxing and fell asleep to the quietness around him.


	2. The Surface

When Jake woke up, he realized instantly he was in a different place. The current had taken him somewhere, and the sun was coming up slowly. 

Jake watched in awe at the sight of the sun. It was making colors he had never seen before. Yellow, orange, and red. It was beautiful. He also noticed the tiny lights were vanishing, and white puffy things were randomly everywhere. 

The surface was weird, Jake decided. 

He dove under the waves and looked around, trying to gain any bearing. The ocean floor was closer, but not by much. He decided to swim with the current, hoping it took him farther away from where he once lived. 

Jake stayed a couple feet from the surface, sometimes reaching out to feel the void. It was strange, not feeling water, that he could just reach up and feel nothing. The Hunters came from this weird place? How could they live in it?

Jake noticed something ahead and swam lower to see if he could get a better view. It was silent, almost creating no noise. He swallowed thickly, realizing it was another tiny floating island that The Hunters lived on. Were there a lot of them, or was he running into the same ones? Jake really hoped he was just running into the same ones. 

He swam closer to it, slowly. He had no knife, no way to defend himself. He should be fleeing, but Jake cringed at the thought. 

‘No more hiding and running. I don’t care if I die, I’m going to die fighting.’ 

Jake was under it now. Clearly the island itself wasn’t a threat, just something the Hunters used to get around. Was it alive? Jake touched it and felt no feelings from it. Either it was an object, or dead. Jake decided this was an object and not something the Hunters killed and used to get around. Nope. Not even an option. 

It was tense being this close to something that could possibly kill you. He swam along it towards the surface and peaked out, staying beside it. Jake knew things were /ontop/ of islands. If he stayed low enough, they wouldn’t think to look down to see him. However, he heard nothing. Jake swam around the island slowly, looking around it for anything. Nothing was happening. There were no lures or noises he thought Hunters would make. Nothing. Just.. silence. Was everything on the surface quiet? 

Jake dove under it and waited an hour. These things moved, and moved frequently. This one was not moving. Was.. it dead? No! It wasn’t alive before. Jake slapped himself softly a few times. Possibly no Hunters were on it. Was that possible? Jake swam up again, a few feet away from the small island. He had noticed a weird, spinny blade in the water. It was the islands fin that made it move, he concluded. 

Weird. 

Jake swam around it for another few minutes, building up the mental strength to get on it. Could he even breath on the surface? Would he get stuck and die? Were The Hunters just hiding?

Too many questions. He swam towards the islands fin again, noticing it was a lot lower on this side than all the others. Jake bit his lip and surfaced beside it slowly, trying to peer into the tiny island. He couldn’t see ontop of it yet. 

Jake flicked his tail in agitation. He had to get onto it to see inside. 

Damn his curiosity. 

He hauled himself up quickly for a very fast look inside and dove under. The island was about 4 Jake’s long and 1.5 Jakes wide. It was very small compared to the first one he saw. 

This meant this island was not made for catching merpeople. It would be easy...ish for them to escape? Maybe. Jake waited though, but no noises came from the island from Jake literally showing himself to possible Hunters. 

Either they were really patient, or it was empty. 

Jake swam to the back end again and slowly wiggled himself onto the island up to his chest, keeping his main fin in the ocean. He looked around and saw weird objects, but no Hunters. Or anything alive. It was abandoned. 

Jakes first thought was if he could ride the island. 

He quickly shook that off of his mind. Driving a _Hunters_ ship? No! He would be like a fish in his castle, completely out in the open with hundreds of hungry hands grabbing at him!

Jake wiggled himself onto the small island and hated it. As he thought, being out of the water was weird. He did feel himself drying so he knew he couldn’t be out long. 

Good thing was, he could breath in the Void. 

He took the risk and wiggled into the tiny island further. Hunters had sharp things, right? He would need to loot. Maybe even food? Or at least answers to what these things looked like. Really, anything. 

He grabbed the nearest thing and looked at it. It was a rod, almost like to stab, but had a lot of lure string on it. He grabbed a handle and it spun. Jake dropped it and moved on. 

He grabbed a weird box. Not knowing how these opened (‘similar to a clam?’ He thought), he hit the line where it should open until it did. 

Inside were colorful.. things. They looked like worms and fish, but were fake. Lots of them had small hooks. 

‘Ok.. so.. they used this and lure wire to hunt fish. They obviously learned that from us.’ Jake thought to himself. Were Hunters jealous of them then? There had to be a reason, because Jake now knew they were not a food source to these things. 

He quickly wormed himself back into the ocean for a few minutes before pulling himself into it again. Why did Hunters not swim? Could they not swim? If they could, they would have wiped merpeople out. 

He found random objects. Some strange tinted stick that folded (sunglasses), more lure, 2 knives, and a lot of stuff he could not grab. It was molded onto the island. He touched it, but it was unmoving. 

Jake concluded this was possibly how the thing moved. It probably died, or something (Jake did not want to think about Hunters enslaving a surface fish to use), and left it. He wiggled himself off and swam down, thankful to be back underwater. 

Jake realized he learned a lot of stuff. Hunters couldn’t swim, used some similar stuff to them, and most likely did not hunt them for food. 

Then he heard the humming. 

Shit. 

He dove further down, and as he thought, a bigger island slowly drifted towards the smaller one. The bigger one made a lot of noises, and muffled talking. 

Jake knew what talking was. Some fish (not many) do it, and his own kind. These Hunters could talk. He wondered if he would be able to understand them, but pushed that thought down. Any merpeople they saw they attacked. 

Both islands rocked a bit, and suddenly the smaller one came to life. Jake wanted to stab his curiosity, but couldn’t. He wanted to know if these things were alive or not. He swam towards it, touched it, and dove back down. 

Nope nope nope. Not alive. That was.. Good. In a way. Least Hunters were not using living things for their own will. 

The big one started up and swam off, back towards the direction it came. The smaller one stayed for a few minutes before following. Jake followed the smaller one, which headed towards where the bigger one went. 

He noticed that this thing made a current that pushed back. Was it that fin that made it push forward? He could see it spinning, but did not understand how it could work. 

Jake hung behind and low, far enough to be safe, but not far enough to loose sight. 

He could see it in the distance. Jake assumed this was a “mother island” as it was about a thousand times bigger than the tiny islands the Hunters used. The sun by this point was going down, and the tiny lights were returning with the moon. He stopped following the tiny island and stared ahead. Hunters 100% lived there. Who knows how many. Way too many for Jake. 

He swam down and stayed on the ocean floor for a long time. Jake did not feel safe sleeping this close to the Hunters. He noticed there was a lot of random.. garbage on the floor. Crabs and other dwellers were walking around like nothing was happening. Jake gently picked one up. ‘Is it safe here?’ He tried to cast this as a feeling towards the crab. 

It bubbled back a confused emotion, and a weird version of ‘yes’ except ‘the cubes’. Jake swam around until he saw a ‘cube’. It was just metal wire that lured and trapped unknowing dwellers. 

Much like their own traps. 

Jake sighed to himself and pushed the debris away so he had a decent, and _clean_ spot to sleep in. 

He laid down and fell asleep slowly. 

Jake woke up regularly. The islands made a lot of noise and frequently swam overhead. They were so LOUD. Every time he fell asleep, another would rush overhead. He hated it so much. 

He gave up once the sun was back and swam towards the “mother island”, not caring how dangerous it was. He was tired and angry and just wanted answers. Jake peaked his head up above the surface, his hair instantly clinging to his face. He stared at the land.

It was oddly beautiful. He could see weird seaweed like plants (trees and grass) along with tall cubes (buildings). The “mother island” was nearly deafening. So many noises from it. 

Jake swam away from it, but followed the shoreline. There had to be a quieter area. He wanted to get close to it, and didn’t know why. 

Well, he wanted to see what a Hunter looked like, mainly. After a few hours, the noises grew quieter and quieter. Never silent, but definitely not as loud as earlier. He saw a lot of resting tiny islands (a port) and swam over to it. Jake hid under the walkway and stuck his head above the ocean. It was quiet for a while, until he heard soft thuds above. 

Looking up, he saw dark shadows of something moving above him and making noises. Talking? Was it talking?

Jake was too curious and too tired to care. He swam a little bit away to see what this thing looked like. 

He was absolutely stunned. 

It was a Hunter, definitely. But it looked just like him. Well, the bottom half was weird. Like their fin was split in two and could walk. He looked at the Hunter’s face. It wore a weird stick like the ones he found earlier (glasses), and had brown hair. 

The shit? Was it a merperson but .. weird??? He dove under the waves and gripped his hair. What the fucckkk. Jake was not imagining that at ALL. He thought they would be weird, shark like things. Not.. not this! They were so similar!! 

Before Jake would allow himself to overthink, he swam along the shoreline and looked up at the rising sun. ‘Fuck. I don’t know what to do.’ 

He swam towards the shore, sighing to himself. ‘I’m going to die here because I am literally in Hunter territory but I don’t give a shit anymore.’ Jake was determined to find answers. 

And then he found himself stuck in a net. 


	3. The Hunter

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael Appears

He had no idea when it happened. It had to of been when he was thinking. It was coiled around his tail, similar to an eel. Jake just calmly reached for his bag to get his knife. 

When a wave smacked him in the face. 

He didn’t even notice he was in the shallowest water he had ever seen. It was like, 2 feet deep! And the waves were pushing him towards the land. Where Hunters were. 

“Fuck that!” He dug into his bag, trying to find the knife as waves hit him. ‘Shit. Fuck.’ He glanced at the shore and saw Hunters walking. They could LITERALLY SEE HIM. He grabbed one of the knives and cut at the net quickly. 

It was bigger than he thought. It was snagged around his lower fin, but extended out and around and the current was pushing the rest towards him. 

‘Its as if the fucking ocean wants me to die.’ He angrily thought at the sea, as though it would take pity on him. He managed to get about a half off when the rest of the net began to push against him. Jake grabbed his bag and swam, now able to, but it was still hooked on. He could not risk time right now and would have to drag the fucking massive net until he was safer to cut the rest off. 

Jake quickly swam towards the deeper areas, not stopping even though the net was constricting his fin, threatening to slice it off. 

He ignored the pain and squeezed his knife, swimming into a river. It had sides and close areas. He could grab onto anything. 

This is the logic a panicked-Jake used. He began to cut off the rest without giving the rest of the net time to follow the current and it hit Jake again. 

“FUCK.” He was frustrated and now _further_ tangled. The net was like a poison and gripped onto anything and everything it could. Every rock, stick, trash, it held on like glue. 

And Jake was in the fucking middle. He could hardly move his arm. ‘Fuck my life. I’m never going to the islands ever again. Fuck this.’ 

He twisted his body but the original tangle around his tail squeezed, now drawing some blood. He was near the surface and poked his head out. ‘Maybe a Hunter will give me a quick death?’ He sighed and tugged at what he could, trying to detangle himself. 

He hadn’t realized how long it had been when he saw the moon again. How long had he been stuck, trying to get out? As this point he was ready to scream to get a Hunter to just kill him. The pain was like a shark bite, but gentle and slowly biting down until it was unbearable. It hurt to move. To breath. He stared up at the stars. ‘Is this really how I die..?’ A Hunter’s head blocked his view of the stars, staring down at him. 

‘OH WHAT THE FUCK!’

He quickly dove under the waves, ignoring the pain and just trying to escape. He hadn’t heard ANYTHING. It was just THERE SUDDENLY. Jake had accepted death moments ago but now was regretting it and begging to live. The river was not deep. Would it be deep enough to escape the Hunter? He tried to move. The net refused, only allowing him to move about a foot away. 

Jake nearly screamed when he saw it beside him. IN THE FUCKING WATER. JUST STANDING THERE. 

He kept thrashing and gripped his knife. If it got closer he could stab it. It only took a few minutes to realize it wasn’t moving. Just watching him. 

Jake slowly calmed down but was tense and looked at the Hunter. Was it going to watch him die? Damn. Without warning, it grabbed the net tangled on his chest and hauled him closer to the surface. Jake hissed and thrashed again, trying to twist around to stab it. 

The first Hunter he saw was probably smaller than him. This one was bigger than him. By a lot. It dropped him in waters that were less than a foot deep and stared at him. 

Jake managed to take a swing at it and almost stabbed the Hunter when it grabbed his wrist. 

“Fuck you!” He hissed at it and almost instantly stopped. 

He could feel the Hunters emotions. 

Instantly, it let go of him and stared at its hands. 

It was feeling amazed, confused, and wanted to.. to help. No killing or murderous intent towards him. 

What. The. Fuck. 

Jake looked up at the Hunter, who stared at him with absolutely no emotion. It unnerved Jake. A lot. But emotions do not lie, and this Hunter had no feelings to murder him. He stopped moving and let himself relax. The net that was strangling him had become more tangled from his attempt to flee and fight, and he could hardly feel his tail now. 

He hated the fact he was basically at the mercy of a Hunter. And it was just staring at him, not moving. Jake glared at him. “If you want to fucking help me then do it, if you can even understand me.” He said to it. Did they have genders? 

Jake wanted to slap himself. /Yes/ they had genders. The Hunter looked at the knife still gripped in Jake’s hands. ‘Fuck it.’ He moved his hand in a way that spun the knife around where he was holding the blade in a motion that said ‘take the damn thing.’

And He did. He grabbed the knife and looked at it for a moment before turning to the net and cutting it off slowly. Jake was just relieved the Hunter didn’t stab him. He could feel his eyes boring into him and glanced at the Hunter. He still had an emotionless look. Were all like this? That was terrifying. 

Jake looked down, anywhere but the Hunter’s face. He stared at his legs, curious. They looked so weird. 

He touched one of them without thinking. The pain in his tail left as the Hunter cut off the first tanglement. Jake quickly curled his tail close to him defensively, but had netting on his chest and arms still. 

The Hunter watched his tail. Was he just as curious about his tail, as Jake was to it’s legs? 

Also, why the fuck wasn’t it killing him? 

It grabbed his wrist suddenly and pulled his arm forward. Jake cowered back until he felt the emotions again. The Hunter seemed to react for once, but only slightly. 

It was feeling a sliver of pity, but was mainly curious. Also, it really did not want Jake to leave the moment he was free. 

Damnit. Should he? Who knows what this Hunter would do to him if he stayed. Would he be kept as a pet? Sold to another Hunter? 

Jake remembered the connection went both ways, and it could feel what Jake was feeling. It was a weird way of communication, since underwater talking was hard. Only at close distances could talking work. 

The Hunter sent back an emotion, replying to his curiosity. It was just as confused and interested as he, but did not want to keep Jake for malicious reasons. 

He huffed and pulled his arms towards him when the Hunter cut off all the nets. There were a few on his chest but he wanted to do that. The Hunter handed him the knife back and he quickly took it and cut off the rest. The moment he was free he swam several feet away from the stupid net and into deeper water but paused. 

The Hunter was still watching him. He drug his hand though his hair. ‘He doesn’t want to kill me, damnit. Maybe I can get answers..’ He didn’t move closer and stayed where he was. Jake pulled his bag off of his back and grabbed the clam again. Good thing he brought two. 

He asked them to help and they did, Jake put them on the worst spot, where the net nearly severed the tip of his tail off. 

The Hunter had walked over and was nearby, watching curiously and silently. He almost made no noise. Jake decided to ignore the Hunter for now and focus on not bleeding out to death. 

It just watched. The only thing Jake could hear was its breathing. He felt the Hunters emotions before he realized it touched him. It was asking how it worked. 

So Hunters knew and understood emotional-telekinesis? He seemed shocked the first time. 

Jake tried to explain through emotion but as it was always difficult to explain non-emotional stuff like this. 

“Can you understand me?” He decided to ask. 

The Hunter just stared at him. It unnerved Jake how almost no emotions were showing psychically, or through the touch. Was this why the Hunters were brutal and killed so many of his kind?

Ok so.. it couldn’t understand him. Jake sighed and moved the clams around his various cuts. He just wanted to sleep. Possibly forever. Everything hurt, he was mentally tired, and he just wanted to relax. 

The Hunter walked off after that and into the forest. Jake had felt nothing from it before he did that. Could they control it better than merpeople? That was a terrifying thought. He swam to the deepest part of the river and curled into a ball. Looking at the shore, he saw the Hunter through the waves pulling the net out of the river as he drifted to sleep. 

The sun was decently in the air by the time he woke up. Jake slowly sat up, letting his memories slowly flood in. His body /hurt/. 

‘I was saved from a Hunter. Ugh..’ He held his head. How many moons ago did he last eat? It had been multiple. 

Jake got up to swim towards the ocean when a shape caught his attention. It was staring at him and he mentally sighed. He knew it was that Hunter. Jake swam over to it and surfaced, giving him an annoyed look. 

The Hunter just stared at him blankly, never showing emotion. He was wearing a big blue thing that covered nearly his entire body. Hunters were weird. The surface was weird. 

Jake sat a few feet away from the Hunter. It was wearing something on the end of its legs though. It seemed to be repelling water (Boots). The Hunter walked over to Jake and touched his shoulder, making the merman flinch. He was warm. Jake felt this Hunter held a lot of power. 

It asked him if he was hungry. Jake responded back in an annoyed tone that he was about to hunt before he decided to stare Jake down. 

No emotion or response came from the man. Jake sent him a glare and moved to swim back to the ocean when the Hunter gripped him harder. Jake froze. Was it going to kill him now? 

The Hunter sent back that he could get food any time, and bring it to him. He just did not want Jake to leave. 

Jake instantly growled as he was reminded of being held inside that cave by his parents. The Hunter let go and gave him an almost knowing look. Almost. He still was emotionless. 

Jake huffed at him. “I’ll come back if I feel like it.” Which, he would. Because he was terrified of getting trapped again, but also because this Hunter was curious about him and kind of nice. Strange, but nice. 

He swam off into the open ocean to hunt for food. 

————

Michael was raised by his parents who hated him, along with his older sister. They called him names, beat him, and made him feel worthless. He put a bag over his head and blocked out any and all emotions to protect himself from an early age. 

At 6, he killed his older sister. He felt nothing. 

He killed those who hurt him. He didn’t care. His mother, father, anyone. Then, he just left. 

Michael just walked until he couldn’t anymore. He did not know what to do with his life. People always seemed happy around him. He watched those people. Watched how they went home, fought with their family, cried to sleep, got up in the morning, and pretended to be happy. 

Michael did not want to live like them. A fake life in a fake, hurtful world. He went far away until he saw no people. 

He found a cabin in the woods and lived in it. Michael found a nearby town and decided, out of pure boredom and curiosity, to get a job. 

He had his own life. Michael enjoyed being by himself. He only interacted with his boss, but that was rare. 

Michael lived in the forest, knew it like the back of his hand. He had a nearby river by the ocean for constant water and fish. 

He still did not feel complete. He had everything good, but felt empty. Michael always felt empty, but this was different. 

He wore a mask at all times, never comfortable to take it off, even when alone. His coveralls were perfect for his job. 

Then one day he saw a man in the river. Michael watched him curiously as he hissed..? Growled? It was a weird noise. Curious, and with nothing else to do, he walked over and continued to watch. The man seemed stuck. In the darkness of the night he couldn’t tell how, but assumed a rock? 

He peered over the man, not caring how shocked he was. And he saw a tail suddenly splash out of the river. For a brief moment, Michael felt shock. The man, or.. mermaid? Merman? Seemed absolutely terrified of his existence. He didn’t blame him. He saw the net next. It was wrapped around his tail and arms, one of which held a knife. 

Michael just watched, curious. He could wait. The merman had fled into the water as deep as the net would allow, which wasn’t much and was causing the net to strain against him more. 

When it finally calmed down enough, Michael grabbed the net on its chest and hauled it to shallower waters so he could held untangle it easier. The merman hissed instantly and he dropped it into the shallower areas. 

Without hesitation it tried to stab him, which he quickly blocked by grabbing the wrist. 

Michael would have never expected this. A surge of emotions flooded through him. He felt how in pain, tired, and stressed the merman was. How it was terrified of him killing him, and how it wanted to live. He let go and stared at his hand. Michael had never felt any strong emotions before. It was almost overwhelming. Could it sense his feelings, if he had any?

It seemed to, because after that, all attempts to escape and fight ceased. So, it knew he didn’t want to hurt it? He just stared at it until it made an obvious move that it trusted him. 

It hissed and growled something at him. Was it talking? He noticed the knife had turned around in the merman’s hands and he grabbed it. Without wasting time, Michael began to cut off the netting. 

He hardly needed to pay attention to where he was cutting. Michael just stared at the creature before him. He was curious, he knew that. 

The merman glanced at him, made an annoyed sound, and looked away. It clearly did not want to look at him. Was it still scared?

Michael moved to cut the netting off of it’s tail, wondering how it got in this situation, when he felt a soft tension at his calf. 

He glanced back to see the merman confusedly touching his leg. Had it never seen a person before? Maybe, but never touched one? 

The moment all net was free from his tail, he curled it in close. Michael was slightly saddened at that. From what he could tell, the fin was a greyish purple, which was a nice color. 

Michael knew it would resist a lot, so he grabbed his wrist again and yanked it forward to begin cutting. He tried to ignore the surge of emotions but couldn’t. The merman was a lot calmer, but still on edge. He could feel the way it thought of how to escape, what he should do, possible ways to attack Michael if needed, and curiosity. Either merpeople had a lot of emotions, or Michael really felt next to none. 

He realized he did not want this new thing to leave him just as soon as it came into his life. It made his life... interesting. The merman seemed to process his emotions and looked at him confused. He felt how the merman seemed to think he would keep him for stupid reasons, like a pet or to sell away. He made sure he let the man know that he was not. 

Once his arms were free, he got the feeling from the other that he wanted to finish. Michael handed him the knife and watched as it cut away the rest and fled from the net, terrified as if it would snag him again. Michael let the merman have some space. He could tell it was thinking to leave but decided not to and dug through the bag Michael noticed earlier. 

To his (slight) surprise, he pulled out some clams. Michael walked over and watched. He put the clams on his wounds. Michael put his hand on his shoulder and tried to ask it a question through feeling on what he was doing. It replied that it was healing. 

So, like Neosporin. The merman then made a different noise. Not hissing or growling, but calmer? He just stared at the other. Michael could feel how tired it was, though, and decided it needed to relax. 

He could also tell that it had been stuck there for a day at least. Maybe two. 

He walked back over to the net and began to pull it out while the merman seemed to sleep. He dragged it to a fire pit to light up later and went to the town. 

Michael bought some supplies and wrote his boss a note. ‘Will be busy for a few days. Maybe week. Be back later.’ In messy handwriting, and left. He would be dealing with a fabled merman for a while. 

The next morning, Michael got up early. He hardly slept, not exactly feeling tired. Typically, one day of the week he would sleep longer, and the rest a lot shorter. He got a lot of work done that way. 

Michael put on his coveralls and walked back towards the river and sat at the bank, staring at the blobby form. 

It didn’t take long for the merman to start moving. Michael was annoyed it went for the ocean the moment it woke up, but quickly stopped and went towards him, only a few feet away. 

He got up and touched its shoulder again, asking if it was hungry. Michael hoped this was going though. He was not the best with emotions. 

Michael felt the annoyed tone of the merman, and he almost felt something keen to snorting. The merman /was/ going to hunt, until Michael ‘made him stop to go deal with his annoying ass’. He understood that perfectly from the man’s emotions. 

He was staring at the merman and finally sent back that he had food and could give it to him, just that he did not want Jake to leave. 

Almost instantly he felt very deep emotions. The feeling of being trapped, unhappy, bored, and suffering in a dark quiet cave. He let go and watched the merman leave for the ocean, growling something at him. 

Michael watched it leave. They had something in common, he knew that. 

When Jake returned, he was chewing on a huge catfish. He curled up at the bottom of the river until he was finished and buried the bones before swimming to Michael. 

Jake stared at him, still weary. The Hunter had been waiting for him this whole time? Did he have nothing else to do? 

Thats when it took off the blue thing and went into the water. 

Jake almost died. This thing was so unpredictable and sudden. It was only wearing a smaller and different colored blue thing. Jake also noticed its face was white, but its skin was a warm sandy color. Weird. 

The river wasn’t very strong. It was slow, but still moving. The bigger man swam out towards the middle of the river, which terrified Jake. They. Could. SWIM. 

Nope. Nooooope. 

He swam towards the other slowly and watched the Hunter. It was moving all its limbs to keep its head in the Void. He just had to gently flick his tail occasionally. He went under the water and swam around the Hunter slowly. It had to have a name, right? Even fish name themselves. He brushed his tail against the other and asked if it had a name. He had no idea how a feeling-bond would explain names. It was difficult unless the name had emotional ties to the person. 

Jake refused to just call the Hunter the Hunter. It was stupid. The man gently nudged him, giving him a fuzzy emotion. Jake popped up off of the surface. “I know you, things, can talk. Maybe not understand.” He said to it. The other just stared at him, its breathing was slightly ragged. 

“I’m Jake.” He placed his hand to his own chest. “Jake.” As he said this, he brushed his tail against one of his legs, sending a feeling as he said it to indicate this feeling meant his name. 

It was confusing and hard. The Hunter understood though. Great! Hunters were not idiots. For a moment he felt annoyance from the other. 

Jake snorted and laughed a bit. It just got mad at him for assuming their kind were idiots. This was interesting. Better than that cave at the very least. 

And of course the Hunter did something without warning. It dove under the water and swam down. 

Jake froze and sighed. Yeah. They could swim. Fantastic. He followed after the other. ‘Fuck he is huge. Even with no tail he is bigger than me.’ Jake thought. 

He brushed up against him to send another message. What was he doing? If Hunters could swim, why didn’t he do it before? Or swim to kill more of his kind?

Jake got confused fuzzy emotions back and then understood. They could not breath water. They held their breath. Hunters had to breath the stuff in the Void. 

Oh thank fuck. 

Jake was relieved Hunters couldn’t go down in the ocean far. True to his word, Jake felt a strangled and almost burning feeling in his chest due to the other man, who surfaced soon after. Jake liked this man. 

Before, in his boring life, he was allowed to leave the cave, but only staying in the kingdom. However, every merperson was boring or hated him. No one seemed unique. 

Either he was stupid or he was just interested because the first Hunter he can interact with didn’t kill him. The Hunter went to water he could stand in, and touched Jake’s forearm. He sent a strange emotion he guessed was the Hunter’s name. 

“Michael?” He asked, trying to replicate. For a moment, he saw shock in the Hunter’s eyes. Ok, so, he possibly spoke a word in their language and he understood. It had to be his name. Either that or ‘Michael’ made him say something equivalent to ‘fuck’ but he felt no humor coming from the other. 

Jake realized he had not seen this Michael eat. He must have eaten a few moons ago then. 

He tensed up when he felt Michael touch his tail. The man was feeling very small trace amounts of worry. Jake crossed his arms and sent back a snappy ‘i’m fine.’ To the man. 

Jake was used to the emotional-telekinesis. Michael seemed to not be and was visibly growing tired from communicating. He pushed the others hand away and swam to the shore. 

So these Hunters lived on this place, and not the tiny fast islands? He wondered what it was like. 

Jake glanced down the river and back towards Michael, whom was staring down at him with unfeeling eyes, now standing on land. 

Jake swam deeper and laid down on the river bottom. No matter how far he went he could still feel those eyes boring into him. After a while he glanced up and saw Michael had left. 

Jake looked at the ocean entrance. He could leave. He could. But really he did not want to. What would he do when he got out there, anyways? Jake shook his head and sighed. 

This was his life now. He liked it.


	4. The Tub

There were beasts unknown to mankind that Merpeople knew about, and dealt with. One rare example being a Kracken. 

Another one being a large leech that finds weak prey. 

Jake was currently dealing with that. He had woken up to this large leech biting his tail. “DAMNIT GET OFF!” He only felt _kill_ and _hungry_ from this thing. Jake retrieved his knife and stabbed it once. It let go, but only to smack Jake hard into the ocean floor. 

Everything was ringing and hurt. He grabbed the leech and tried to yank it off, to no avail. He realized he was weak. How long had this thing been eating his blood? Fuck!

He began to punch and scratch it as the thing bit his chest. It was the worst feeling Jake had ever felt in his life. A million tiny teeth stabbing him and literally sucking the life out of him. Had this thing followed him here!? He reached under, towards the mouth, and tried to push it off, but it was suctioned on. ‘Fuck..’

He saw a blurry movement and he was being pulled out. All he felt from it was anger and kill. Were two of these fighting over him? 

The tension from his chest was gone and he was pulled to the shoreline. Before he could get a grip of his surroundings, the blob, Michael most likely, went back into the water. 

Jake pushed himself up by his elbows and coughed up blood. Two new circular holes were bleeding out at a pace Jake didn’t know existed. He saw Michael walk towards him, weird black goop on him. Jake’s vision was hazy as Michael somehow picked him up over his shoulder and carried him. Away from the river. Fuck. Jake blacked out soon after. 

Michael carried him to his cabin nearby. He was holding Jake’s bag and his knife while carrying him. 

Honestly, Michael carried many heavy things. But Jake was almost pure muscle at the tail and was heavier than he expected. He was NOT allowing Jake to stay in a river he could not watch, weak. 

Whatever that thing was wanted him dead. Michael was not going to let Jake die. 

He was a big man, so he had a big tub. Oddly a good fit for his current situation which was getting a merman into one. He set Jake down, who was passed out, and filled the tub up. 

Michael dug through the bag and found the clams and put them on Jake. They didn’t open. He held them, annoyed and pushed them against the bleeding wounds. After a moment they did. 

Michael got up and went to get his own supplies. He looked down to see a blood trail from his door to the bathroom. Great. Michael went to the kitchen and grabbed his med kit. While he didn’t feel pain often, he knew taking care of wounds was important. He went back to the bathroom and began to patch up Jake to the best of his ability. 

The merman didn’t give off any emotions other than dull pain. He wondered if that was how Michael felt to him. Michael didn’t question how clams helped or if human medicine would, but he would try. 

Jake looked so pale and his breathing was shallow. Michael felt his own emotion for once. One that screamed to never let anything hurt him again. To keep him safe. His Jake. 

Michael sat beside the tub for hours, staring at him and waiting. 

Jake finally woke up, hissing the moment he did in pain. It felt like all the energy was sucked out of him. He opened his eyes and looked at Michael, fear shivering down his spine for a moment. The man was staring at him. Of course. He looked down to see the clams attempting to stop the blood. He thanked them and looked around. 

Where the fuck was he? He had never seen anything like this before. It was outside of the ocean and looked slightly similar to his cave. Was this Michael’s “cave”? He looked back at Michael for answers, but the man made no move to touch him. He looked at himself again and flicked his tail. Wherever he was, he was not far from the river. 

This tiny ocean hardly contained him and his tail was flopped out. That end felt dry, but wet at the same time. Michael followed to where he was looking and almost answering his question, he showed Jake a weird cloth. It was wet. And then Michael place it on his tail and rubbed. 

Jake had no idea how to feel. On one hand, it was weird and he hated it. On the other hand, it felt nice and he did not want it to stop. He looked back at the water to see it was mainly blood. Michael seemed to take note too, and reached into the water beside his tail. Jake tense up as the man did something. He heard a weird gurgle noise, and the water started to go down. 

Jake had never felt this kind of panic before. Life or death? Check. Your life being sucked out of you? Check. Meeting a hunter? Check. Being stuck in a tiny ocean as your last water vanishes and youre bleeding? Fantastic. 

Michael put his hand on his tail, noticing the man’s facial expressions. Jake tried to understand the emotions, but they were like puzzle pieces. He got the idea Michael cleaned in this specific spot, but nothing else. He had to have emotions tied to a spot to be able to explain something properly. 

Once all the water was gone, Michael took no time to plug the drain and turn on the tap again. Jake then understood he could get water any time from this strange thing. He stared at it curiously and watched the water rise. 

It was warm. Which was unexpected. The only warm water he felt was near volcanic vents. Michael could control water temperature? Jake relaxed and tried to not stress. The Hunter had clearly proven he can be trusted over and over again. 

Michael continued to stare at Jake. If Jake squinted enough, he could almost see worry in his eyes. He also noticed how the man’s mouth never moved and that his eyes seemed sunken in. 

He reached up and touched his face. Jake felt nothing. No emotions. Nothing. His face was cold, unlike his hands. Weird. Michael didn’t react to him touching his face. Maybe they didn’t have feelings in their face? 

He felt quiet emotions and glanced at his hand. Michael had put his hand to Jake’s. He was trying to emotionally explain to Jake what it was. He could feel how Michael needed whatever it was and felt most comfortable with it. That he could take it off and on if he wanted to. Jake was revolted a bit. He could not imagine taking off a /face/. Michael pulled his hand away and grabbed his mask’s neck and moved it a bit, trying to show Jake it was like a second head. 

It clicked. Jake knew, from what Michael showed him, that that mask held a lot of emotions. It was why he could not breath well at the river. 

Jake then huffed and sent him an agitated ‘why am I not at the river?’ Towards the other. 

Michael stared at him for a long time. It made Jake uncomfortable. He could hear his breathing and the clams and the wind outside. Finally, Michael grabbed his hand. 

It was because Michael wanted to protect him, and he couldn’t when Jake was at the river. Jake felt himself blush and let go before the connection allowed those feelings to go through. No one had ever cared about him before. His parents were overprotective freaks, but truly did not care about him. They didn’t care if he ate or got into trouble, as long as he was safe. They cared about his brother more, making sure he got close to royals and establishing relationships. His family shunned and hid him from anyone of priority. 

Jake nearly cried. He was going through so much and hated it. Michael’s hand was on his shoulder, making Jake gently push it off. “I didn’t want you to feel that.” He said to Michael, not looking at him. The blood from his wounds finally stopped, but if he moved they would reopen easily. 

That’s when he noticed that not just the clams were on him. He reached down and touched a weird.. cloth? What is up with cloths with this guy? It was wrapped around his middle many times and felt sticky. He touched it and looked at it. It was clear and thick, like sea slug goop. Was Michael attempting to help with creatures related to the sea?

Jake felt slightly touched. Even if Michael never showed emotion he did care. He felt awful though. Michael had helped him so much but he hasn’t done anything in return for him. 

He would do something for Michael later. He promised himself that. Jake closed his eyes and drifted off to sleep. 

Michael got up when the other was asleep and went to the kitchen to eat something. He had to eat. Michael made himself a sandwich and walked to his room while he ate it, grabbing a chair, some books, a pillow, and a blanket. He was not leaving that bathroom unless he had to. Michael set the chair beside the tub and dropped the pillow and blanket beside him. It would also be a while with Jake waking up and sleeping, so books were a necessity. 

While staring at Jake was nice and he could do it for hours, Michael did not think days would be as entertaining. He sat in the chair and decided to read. 

Jake slowly woke up. The first thing he felt was pain. Pain in his chest, tail, arms, everywhere. He rubbed his eyes and shuffled a bit, his muscles hurting from lack of movement. While everything stung, it felt nice to move. He looked over at Michael, expecting those eyes to be staring at him. They were not. Infact, was he sleeping? Jake was hesitant to touch Michael. His emotions may wake him. 

He stared at the other man (mainly due to having nothing else to stare at!) and noticed the strange object in his hands. Jake carefully took it and touched it. Whatever it was was very dry. He flipped through it, understanding it was a book. Their books were different, rare, and waterproof. His had a lot of words in it. Jake set it aside and watched the other breath. 

It was weird how Michael’s chest moved up and down as he breathed. Jake touched his gills at his neck. They just ever so slightly moved as he breathed. Which reminded him that they hurt. He had been out of the water so long they had dried. Jake slid down under the water and hissed as his gills stung from finally getting water. 

‘I am not living like this. Its way to small.’ He would not think about how technically he is trapped here. Michael had good intentions. Jake knew that, in a way, Michael was scared another creature would swim in and kill or hurt him again. 

His middle and tail began to hurt and he sat up again, letting those sink under the water and relax. The water was cold again. Jake wondered if he should tamper with the water like how Michael did. 

You live and you learn. Jake reached down and moved the plug like he saw Michael do earlier. The water began to receded slowly. He waited until it was empty before sitting up slowly, ignoring the pain, and trying to work the weird nob. 

After 40 seconds Jake began to panic. He didnt understand how it worked. Was he about to start drying out? Jake tried for another minute before giving up. He was not dealing with this right now. 

Jake turned around and shook Michael, who instantly woke up and looked at him. It only took 2 seconds before he leaned over and pulled, twisted, and let go of the knob. Warm water came spilling out. 

He relaxed and watched as it slowly filled up. Jake turned to Michael, who was watching him. “You really like to stare, huh?” Knowing he would get no reply, he laid back down and closed his eyes to just relax. 

Jake realized it had been a while when Michael began to rub his tail again with that wet cloth. He hadn’t realized how dry it had gotten. Michael seemed to think he was asleep, so he would keep it that way. 

The other just carefully rubbed the rag there for a while. When he was done, he rewet it and placed it there and grabbed the book. Jake heard the pages turning and stop. Then turn at a very slow rate. He focused on his breathing, which was relaxing. Jake found himself slipping asleep for real this time. 

Up until he heard a distant rumble that came from the sky. He tensed up and looked around. ‘What was that?’ Looking to Michael for answers, who did not react to the noise. It.. must be normal?

Jake closed his eyes again and heard a few more weird rumbles. Then a sudden and loud clap that literally shook the walls and Jake could feel it. He sat up and pulled his tail close to him. 

“What the hell WAS that?” He asked Michael. Michael set the book down and placed his hand on top of Jake’s head. It was an odd feeling, both from the hand and the emotions Michael was giving him. This was in fact normal. He could not get hurt, and Michael actually liked when these ‘storms’ happened. Water fell from the sky outside too. Jake laid his head on the tub wall and closed his eyes again. He listened to the rain and the thunder, but focused on the feeling of Michael’s hand in his hair. 

Jake had never really liked people touching him before. It was weird and he hated feeling their emotions. Michael was.. somehow different. He hardly had any emotions and his hand felt nice. Other people’s emotions flooded him and he did feel like he was drowning in them until the connection was lost. 

Jake fell asleep wondering why Michael was like this, and if all Hunters were like this. 


	5. Outdoors

Michael was touching the merman’s hair. While it was similar to human hair, his had been in the ocean for God knows how long. It was unkept and messy. He ran his hand through it gently and was shocked for a moment when Jake made a weird noise. 

Michael did it again and realized what it was. He had seen cats before. They didn’t like him much, but he pet one before and it made a noise similar to this. Jake was.. happy? He felt this from the man. 

It was strange how their emotions seemed to connect only through touch. Was this normal among the merpeople? Michael knew there were others - Jake’s distaste for his family and kind were very clear. 

They were similar in a sense. While Jake was not abused, he was forced to stay home in unwanted conditions for who knows how long. Merpeople probably aged differently. Jake seemed to eat at different times as well. After that catfish 2 days ago, Michael hasn’t felt Jake feel hungry. 

And here Jake was, now asleep, purring. Michael knew this man was feisty and would always put up a fight, even if he had Jake’s full trust. If Jake knew he was purring, he knew he would punch Michael. That’s why he only did it when he was asleep. Except a few minutes ago, but that was to reassure him. 

Jake also made a semi-similar noise when he was rubbing his tail. While not a purr, and probably did not feel as good, he was very vocal. Michael had wondered if Jake would do it when he was awake, which soon proved that no, Jake did not make that noise when awake. 

Michael had also taken the time to feel the part of Jake’s tail that was out of the water when he was asleep. It was similar to that of a stingray, but not slimy. Soft but tough. Jake did not seem to dislike the feeling. 

He did not like technology, but his boss made him buy a phone for emergencies. It was a crappy iphone 4 with next to no service but Michael was patient. He had Googled and searched about merpeople, sealife, and anything related to try to learn more for Jake’s care. Michael found himself at a “fish care” web sight, just in case it has something to offer. 

Michael compared images to Jake. He had greyish webbed fingers, and a fin on his back. Not like a shark, but Michael could not explain it. His tail was typical of that of mermaids, however he had side fins like betta fish. He touched one, and Jake hardly reacted, so he moved it gently. To Jake, it was like moving a finger. He glanced at his face and towards his ear. Jake had fins behind his ears. He reached over and gently grabbed one. It was thin and flicked when touched. 

He noticed Jake had two sets of gills. The ones on his neck and a bigger set on his sides. He stared at them moving gently for a while before touching them carefully. Jake instantly had emotions of confusion and to stop. Michael stopped and let Jake rest. They must be sensitive. 

He read all kinds of folklore on merpeople he can. Lots of information was different from one another, or so weird. Some said merpeople eat humans, while others say they possess the power to change from a legged to a fish-tailed. Michael doubted both of those were true. He did believe the one that said they heal fast. Michael could see this. 

He slept a lot, though. In the past 2 days, Jake had slept 28 hours. 28 long, boring, Jakeless hours. When Jake was awake it was like time stopped. Michael never found enjoyment it anything, but he looked forward to interacting with Jake. 

By the fifth day, Jake was feeling a lot better. His major wounds were healed up nicely and color returned to his skin. Jake had not seen Michael sleep, exactly. So when he woke up to see Michael leaned over the tub, sleeping deeply, he went quiet. He did not want to wake Michael up at all.

Jake did know that Michael was hurting. He had gently touched his wrist and felt dull pain from the other. He was not sleeping well and it was straining his back. Jake looked around and saw the pillow and blanket. That.. was for sleeping, right? It had to be. Lucky for him, Michael was not in the chair. He grabbed the pillow and moved it to where Michael would lay down. 

‘I can do this. He’s been nice to me and extremely helpful. I can help him too.’ Jake calmed his emotions, knowing too many could wake Michael. He grabbed the bigger man and slowly lowered him to the ground. It was hard and he was heavy, but Jake was proud of himself when Michael didn’t wake up and had his head on the pillow. 

A win for Jake. He would take it. Jake had learned how to control the water anytime he wanted, and cycled his body where each part got enough moisture without Michael’s help. He missed being able to swim around though. Michael would let him back into the river, right? Most likely. 

He reached down the tub’s side and grabbed his bag. He put the clams back inside and sighed. He did not pack a lot for his trip. One knife? Jake mentally slapped himself. He almost died about 15 times, too. Jake drained the tub and filled it with hot water. By now the ocean grime and salt was long gone and Jake felt oddly.. clean? The ocean had a lot of gunk and grime in it. Next to none was on him now. 

While Michael was asleep, he attempted to read the book. Jake knew it was a high level reading book, but he had nothing else to do. No words made sense but he just figured out the letters and attempted to learn. Jake pulled out a flat rock from his bag with a chalky stick and began to write down the strange letters. 

He did this until Michael was awake. The man sat up and looked at Jake. Jake’s tongue was poking out slightly as he wrote down the word ‘table’, clearly not knowing what it meant. They locked eyes and the merman smiled for a moment and made a soft clicking noise. 

“Finally awake? What does this mean.” He showed the tablet to Michael, who touched his fingers. It was hazy. There were no emotions connected to that word. Jake ignored his own fuzzy feelings when the Hunter touched him and wiped the slate clean. He liked writing this word and wanted to know what it meant. ‘Tree’. Jake liked the swirls the E’s did. Michael did have faint emotions connected to that, and Jake had seen them before. 

“Oh so that’s the giant seaweed.” He mumbled to himself. Michael suddenly touched his chest where the leech had sucked half of his life out. Jake didn’t feel any pain and looked up at him confused. 

Michael got up and left. Jake had a suspicion he was getting something. He was right. When he returned, he was holding a few more books. 

Jake grabbed one and opened it. A picture book. He flipped the pages, seeing foods and creatures he would have never dreamed about with such simple words. 3 letters, 4 letters. Was this a baby book? Jake asked Michael this, who actually was amused at the sight, even if slightly. Jake pushed his arm away, debating to punch the man as he angrily flipped through the book and stopping at a page. It showed a hunter and a word. Jake stared at the word and wrote it on his slate, showing Michael. 

Michael did not want to respond. He set his slate down and continued flipping through, stopping at ‘shark’. He wrote the syllables down, and then in his own language and showed Michael. 

The other stared at the word confused and grabbed the tablet. Michael handed it back and nodded. Jake wished they could talk. Michael hadn’t even made a noise since Jake met him, though. Even if they could, would he speak? Jake rubbed his temples. He did meet a mute merperson before who was extremely well with emotional-telekinesis to the point they were talking (really the mute was) through it. 

He grabbed Michael’s hand. “How long does your kind live?” He didn’t understand the time aspect of it, but understood it could be a long time. Natural things like sickness and accidents could kill them, but if they managed to survive that, Hunters could live easily for tens of thousands of moons. (10,000 days is roughly 27 years, for reference.) 

Jake was relieved they do not die quickly. He would learn better emotional-telekinesis to talk to Michael better. Not because he had to. Because he wanted to. 

Michael sent him an odd question. It made Jake blush and pull away. Michael had asked how they mated. There was hardly any emotional connection to the word ‘mate’ so it was hard to tell what he really meant. 

While the Hunter was researching merfolk, he stumbled across lots of theories how they reproduced. Michael was just innocently curious. 

Jake did not want to tell him that right now. Or ever. After a minute Jake dunk under the water to let his gills get wet. When he sat up, Michael grabbed him gently and hauled him out of the tub easily. Jake wanted to thrash but knew if he did he would fall, so he clung onto Michael’s back. 

Fuck. He was scared to fall. Michael carried him out of the bathroom and outside. Jake was looking around, confused at everything he saw. Once outside he saw the trees he just learned about along with a lot of other things. Michael walked down a path. Not towards the river. Towards a smaller body of water, but bigger than that stupid tub. He set Jake down gently at the bank. The moment Jake touched the water he backed away. 

Nope. No. Fuck that. That water was brown and it smelled. Also the ground felt like itchy seaweed and he hated it. He would rather be in the tub than whatever this was. 

Michael picked him back up, understanding the emotions of disgust. Jake felt a slight apologetic tone to Michael but it was gone in a few seconds. Jake just looked around. He really enjoyed it out here. 

He felt the moment Michael had an idea and set him against his house. Jake knew it was a house now, since Michael had shockingly strong emotions towards it. He had grown up here and was proud of this place. 

Jake looked around at the trees when water suddenly hit his face. He put his hand up to block the stream and practically saw the smug look in Michael’s eyes. “Oh real fucking funny.” He looked at the thing the water was coming out of. It was like a long green eel. Michael sprayed his tail and turned off the water and sat in a chair beside Jake. 

It was so strange not being in water, but there was so much going on. He heard noises from everywhere and there was so much to look at. It was nice. The ocean was always open and barren. Out here it was so dense and full of life. 

Every once and a while Michael would spray him. Jake had learned long ago that Michael did not need water to stay alive. He did see the man eat and consume foods and liquids. 

Michael was looking at the trees (instead of him, for once). Jake felt something and looked down to see a very long creature crawling on him. He squeaked and instantly swatted it off. For all he knew it could be poisonous. 

Without realizing he had bumped into Michael and was clinging onto his leg. Michael had looked down and Jake could feel the amusement seeping off of him. That Jake got scared by a tiny bug. 

Jake punched his leg hard and glared daggers at him. Seriously! He was in a completely new environment, _out of the water_ , and a weird thing touches him. Jake grabbed the water spewer eel (hose) and sprayed Michael, who got up and grabbed the hose. Jake looked up at him and saw rage in his eyes. This was the first time he had seen anger from the man and it was terrifying. 

Then Michael doused his face in the stream. Goddamnit. Michael was playing with him. 

Michael bent down to scoop him up. Jake hated the fact he noticed how close their faces were when he did this for that moment. Seriously. What was wrong with him. He let Michael carry him inside and back to the tub, which he filled with warm water. 

Michael sat back and took his soaking wet shirt off. Jake watched him, trying not to show any emotion while he obviously stared. Yes, he had seen hundreds of chests before. He just... uh.. Hunters. Something about hunters.. He wanted to touch Michael’s chest. The other noticed he was staring and breathed a bit heavier, almost like a huff. Jake looked away and chewed on his lip. He should not stare. He had seen Michael take off his shirt before, but that was facing away and a few days ago. 

Jake did not understand why the man worth clothing just to take it off and put another one on. It was stupid to him. And it annoyed him. He hated the way clothes felt. Dry and itchy and it clung onto him. He had seen Michael get into another area of the bathroom and bathe, but not very well. There was another annoying, bigger clothing separating that view. 

He realized how much he hated clothing items and wanted to rip them all up. Michael, of course, slipped on _another_ shirt and Jake looked away. He felt himself blushing. 

Michael seemed to get another idea he had mot had before and got up, grabbing a small lightweight thing. He sat down and handed it to Jake. When he looked at it, he saw himself. 

Honestly, this was the first time he truly saw himself. He opened his mouth, touched his face, hair, wiggled his fins and did all sorts of things. Did he really look like this? This is what people saw when they looked at him? Jake gripped the handle. No wonder. His brother looked far better than him. ‘Damnit..’ He set the mirror down and put his palms to his eyes and rubbed. He wasn’t crying, just trying to forget that image. ‘I didn’t realize I was that ugly.’

The moment he thought that a rush of emotions came from Michael, who had his hand on his shoulder the entire time. From Michael these emotions were a lot. Really it was hardly a thing.. but, Michael thought Jake was stunning. He blushed and made no movement, keeping his hands on his face. No, no he really was not. He had seen the princess and other merpeople. Compared to him- Michael grabbed his wrists and glared at him. He squeezed, making Jake look at him. 

“Ok.. I get it.” Jake said quietly. Michael relaxed his grip but didn’t let go. He could still feel the emotions from Michael, and how he really admired his tail. Jake flicked it, staring at his own tail. He wanted to see Michael’s legs. “It isn’t fair you get to see my tail all of the time. I’ve only seen your legs like, 4 times.” He just wanted to speak. Michael seemed to like when he talked, even if they couldn’t understand one another. 

Michael showed no emotion and seemed to not care as he took off the shorts he was wearing for Jake. Jake was still angry. How much clothing did this guy wear? He had another, smaller, pair of shorts underneath. Jake hates clothes with a passion, but Michael made no move to take off the rest. Jake leaned over the tub and just stared. He wondered if they split? Did it hurt? It didn’t look like they were together before. No line or anything.

With one hand he moved one of Michael’s legs against the other. Yeah, there was no way they fit together. He noticed that Michael grew hair really everywhere. His head (or was that the masks? Jake couldn’t tell), arms, and legs. Were there anywhere else? Most likely. 

Jake set his hand down on Michael’s left shin. It was crazy how big it was compared to his hand. If Michael was a merman, he would be bigger than the King. Jake blushed at the thought of Michael being one and shook it off. He rubbed his hand on his leg, confused how they work still, and how soft it was. 

Michael was just watching him. Staring into him. Sometimes glancing at his hand. He understood why Jake liked his tail being touched. It wasn’t unpleasant, but favorable to be touched like this. Michael enjoyed it, even if it was a bit strange, but this whole situation was strange. He did like how he could understand Jake’s emotions. Jake also liked touching his legs, but had hints of confusion and curiosity. Jake then squeezed his foot, which he glanced at. 

‘How do these tiny things hold all of him up? And he carried me, like 5 times!’ Michael wiggled his toes and Jake flinched, which earned a glare from the merman when he sensed his amusement. It was funny seeing Jake react to everything. As funny as Michael felt, which wasn’t much. Jake was playing with his toes, which did feel weird, but obviously the merman was perplexed by them. He got bored quickly of this and sat back in the tub. 

Michael left his shorts off and looked at Jake, who was laying his head on the tub side again. It was.. cute..? Michael never felt this before, but he found it cute how the merman laid down and looked up at him while his hair was everywhere, giving him an almost bored look. He couldn’t resist and pat Jake’s head. Michael could tell he was holding back the purring noise and acted like he disliked this. Michael decided now was a good time to attempt to tell Jake he had to work. 

The man then showed him through hazy emotions that he had responsibilities to do, and soon, to stay alive. Jake understood this and that Michael would be gone for extended periods of time starting tomorrow. 

Jake just smirked at him, telling Michael that he better find a way to entertain Jake while he was gone or Jake would crawl around and get into everything he can. 

Michael did not like the idea of his floor being soaked, and all of his personal items being looted through from a bored and curious merman. He just stared at the other. 

Jake learned that the man refused to sleep before him. He didn’t understand why, but didnt question it. Jake curled up in a comfortable spot and closed his eyes. He was very used to the feeling of Michael’s staring by now, but it was still slightly unnerving. 

If you told Michael a week ago that he would be touching a mermaid to try to sleep, he would have bashed your face in. Yet here he was, gently petting Jake’s hair, listening to him purr, and watching him breath to get sleepy. Before Jake, Michael only slept because his body needed it. Now he slept to pass the time until Jake woke up. 

Michael flicked his thumb over Jake’s gills gently as he pet him. He got a confusing amount of emotions ranging from ‘stop, what the fuck, nice, and more’ came from the other. Michael stopped himself from doing it again. Jake was interesting. Not because he was a merperson, Michael was sure if he met another merperson they would be boring, but because Jake was Jake.


	6. Underwater

When Jake woke up, Michael was long gone. He sat up slowly and rested his head on the edge of the tub. It was strange. He was used to being alone. Now he was almost saddened that Michael was gone. 

It was because I’m bored. That’s what Jake told himself. That was totally the reason and had nothing else to do with the fact the Hunter was interesting and warm. 

He looked at the empty chair and saw Michael had placed objects there to keep him entertained. Jake picked up the nearest one. It was a cold rectangle, similar to his writing slate. He pressed the only button on it and many colors and shapes appeared from its previous black screen. 

Jake realized in that moment that either merpeople sucked and were far behind the Hunters, or merpeople sucked because they didn’t want to use such cool things. Jake pressed a red shape, assuming it was a new button. He was in awe of how more images and words appeared just at the touch of non existent buttons. 

This was how Michael found him. Watching a random youtube video with the look of pure enjoyment. He had a long day at work, since he was behind schedule now. He just wanted to get clean and enjoy time with Jake. 

Jake hadn’t noticed him walk in, so he slid by towards the shower and began undressing. His job was not boring, per-say, but it was not that interesting. He had to cut down trees, put them in a machine, and create all types of wood to then move to his bosses shop, and sell. 

He looked at Jake, who was now staring at him. The moment they locked eyes he blushed red and began to made a lot of nervous noises. It definitely was cute. He stepped inside the shower and closed the curtain. 

Michael took off his mask and sighed mentally. In a sense, he wanted to show Jake his real face. In another, he was worried. His parents had always called him ugly and revolting. Michael did not want Jake to think that. He set his mask aside and did his normal routine in the shower. 

When he was done, Michael put on his mask, wrapped a towel around his waist and stepped out to see Jake, both arms hanging over the tub, glaring daggers at the shower curtain as though it had attacked him. When he saw Michael, though, his mood changed to boredom. 

He could almost understand what the merman was grumbling about. 

“You took forever.” Jake huffed at him. There Michael was again. Wearing a clothing. Then he was going to take it off and put on MORE clothing. Didn’t it feel weird to Michael? He watched as Michael went into another room Jake would never be able to enter and return with, you guessed it, clothing. 

He did learn there were different kinds. Jake only slightly liked the ‘rags’. He hated everything else. Michael sat beside him, eating a strange thing Jake had never seen before. He then realized it had been about 6? 7? moons since he ate last. Jake nudged Michael, telling him he was getting slightly hungry. Wow. He had known Michael for more than 10 moons already. 

The man left and returned with a small fish. He gave it to Jake, who dropped it. It felt like a rock and was ice cold. Jake picked it up again and stared at it. How was this fish frozen? He would have to wait until it was thawed to even attempt to eat. Michael made Jake set the fish aside, hazy feelings of ‘eat it later, when you want’ came through. 

He lazily flicked his tail. Jake wanted to swim. As much as he loved being here, he hated not being able to move. His wounds were almost perfectly healed and he felt fine. Jake was about to touch Michael to tell him this, but the man seemed to already know, as he pushed the chair away and scooped Jake up. 

He would never be used to the feeling of being carried. Jake wrapped his arms around his neck since this time, Michael was carrying him bridal style. Jake could feel that Michael did not want Jake to be this far away from him, and was contemplating making a room either big enough to Jake’s liking, or a room beside the river he could live in while Jake swam free. 

He felt comforted in a sense. Michael seemed to really enjoy Jake’s presence. He sat the merman down on the bank and sat beside him on a dry patch. Jake spent no time in swimming as deep as he could and moving around. It felt nice to finally be able to be submerged and free. 

After a few minutes, he returned to Michael. Jake was laying on his stomach, half submerged in the shallow waters, staring at Michael on his elbows. The man stared back at him, never showing any emotion. Jake looked at one of his eyes and realized something he had not before. One of the man’s eyes was very white, while the other was a nice- NO. Jake rubbed his face. Michael was a friend. And a Hunter! Jake growled and went back under to calm his nerves. 

He sat at the bottom of the river and picked up random rocks. Michael was always so.. good to him. Jake gripped the rock he was holding. Why him? Why a Hunter? 

Jake popped up from the surface and turned towards Michael, pointing at the sea. “I’m gonna go out for a bit. Don’t worry yourself to death.” Even if Michael didn’t understand him, he would still speak. Jake swam back towards the ocean. He was going to get Michael a present. 

Michael watched Jake leave until he couldn’t see the grey-purple tail anymore. He did not need to understand Jake to know he would return, so Michael got up and went back to his cabin to quickly retrieve some items. He drained the tub, cleaned the bathroom, got his phone, grabbed Jake’s bag, and walked back to the river bank. 

Michael sat at the bank again and waited for Jake, watching where the river meets the ocean. No person had been able to get close to Michael. Then Jake appeared and wiggled his way to his heart. After a while, he saw the familiar tail through the murky water and Jake’s head popped up with a grin. 

Jake swam up to him and sat down in the shallow bank, holding something behind his back. 

Michael ticked his head slightly to the side, asking what Jake had. 

Jake reached over and covered his mask holes, blocking his sight. With the other hand, Jake made Michael hold his arms out. The merman placed something in his hands and scooted back to let Michael see. 

He looked down at his hands to see a ring. Michael picked it up and looked at it closer. Jake had clearly carved this as it resembled an octopus. There was a small blue gem imbedded into it, not very clear to see, but there. It was also too big for his finger. 

He glanced at Jake to see him smiling shyly. Michael slid it on his ring finger and paused as the ring shifted and curled around his finger to fit perfectly. A magic ring. Michael didn’t feel different. He looked at Jake for answers.

The merman pulled himself to sit beside Michael, keeping his tail in the water. Jake leaned against him, and Michael quietly listened to the feelings from Jake. He was happy and relieved. “I got tired of talking to a wall.” 

Jake felt shock from the other in a big amount for Michael. Ok so that part worked. “I stole it from my mother when I left. She hated the thing anyway. I just changed what it could do. It isn’t much t-“ Michael wrapped his arms around the smaller man and rested his head on Jake’s. He had never gotten a gift before. He did not care if it was magical or not. 

Plus, Jake had a nice voice. “So can you not talk?” The merman looked up at him, but looked away after a moment. Michael tried to explain to him through emotions how he could but he did not want to. Jake was quiet for a while, pity and sadness coming from him like small waves. 

Michael closed his eyes and relaxed on Jake’s head. The other did not seem to dislike the situation and leaned against Michael as well. He then asked if the ring did anything else. 

“Oh, uh, yeah.” Jake mumbled, forgetting that. “There’s no magic that makes things into merpeople so, it isnt that. I’m pretty sure you can breath under water when you wear that.” Jake seemed hesitant. “I did not really study magic.” The other admitted to him. 

Michael felt the embarrassment and worry from him and sighed softly. It wouldn’t hurt to try, right? He let go of Jake and debated taking off his shirt, or if he would deal with it sticking to him. 

Jake turned away from him and slid back into the waters as Michael lifted his shirt off. He knew the merman stared at his chest, even when he thought Michael didn’t notice. He got up and walked into the water, swimming after Jake, who only had his eyes and above out of the water, watching him. 

Most likely to hide his blush. Jake watched Michael go under the water, and he followed after with the flick of his tail, watching him curiously. A minute passed and Michael seemed fine. He was still anxious. What if he accidentally killed him? Or turned him into a clam? Jake was regretting this until Michael grabbed his hand and dragged Jake farther under. 

He blushed and grabbed the bigger hand, slowly pulling the bigger male through the river. Michael seemed interested in the things he could previously never see, like the fish, the reeds, and the river floor. As well as being able to watch Jake swim while completely submerged. His hair was still a mess, in or out of water. Michael could live like this forever, watching Jake, who was swimming around him lazily. Michael sat on the rocky bottom and looked at Jake, who sat beside him. 

Michael never realized how quiet and calm it was underwater. There were no people, no stress. He looked at Jake’s tail, eyeing the new scars. There were some he did not see from before. Jake had some scar lines from the net and two circle ones from the leeches, but he didn’t notice the one on his tail. Something had bit him multiple times on the tail, and hard. Possibly a shark. 

Jake looked at Michael and nudged him softly, asking if he wanted to feel his tail. The man did, so he turned to place his tail across Michael’s lap, blushing softly. Jake reminded himself he was doing this because he wanted to. Michael touched his tail tip, eyeing the shark bite first. Jake felt hits of worry and anger from the other, but closed his eyes to make himself relax. 

Michael moved on and gently pet from where his knees would be, down back to the end. Jake did his best to ignore how nice that felt and how warm Michael was, and just tried to relax. He just continued to pet Jake slowly while staring at his tail or face. Every time Jake looked at him, he would quickly find something else to stare at. 

The merman had to hold back a squeak when Michael suddenly touched where his skin and tail changed. It didn’t feel strange or good, it was just abrupt. Jake looked up at Michael’s face, but saw no emotion. From the bond he could feel almost nothing with hints of curiosity, so he let Michael continue. 

The bigger man touched his hips and glanced at Jake’s gills nearby. He looked up at his face before gently dragging his finger across one. He was curious how it felt - It was soft and moving. Jake flinched hard and had swam a few feet back from the sudden feeling. He curled his tail close to him and was blushing madly. “Asshole. Ask first.” He snapped at him. “I don’t go around touching your weird legs all the time!” Jake glanced at him, unfeeling eyes staring back at him. Michael moved closer to him, but he pushed the others face away, squishing the mask. 

This did not stop Michael from pulling Jake into his lap. Unlike last time, it was just his tail. Now Jake was against his chest with his tail in between Michael’s legs. The bigger man wrapped his arms around Jake’s middle. He let out a soft hum from how safe he felt and rested his head on Michael’s shoulder. 

Michael liked holding Jake. Underwater, he felt almost like holding a pillow. He closed his eyes and rested his chin on Jake’s shoulder, focusing on the breathing from his gills. 

After a while, Jake stretched out his tail and wiggled away from Michael’s grip to see he was asleep. Underwater. Ok that was a weird sight. Jake put his ear to his chest, just to be sure he was breathing. He was, so Jake had two options. Let Michael sleep underwater or wake him up so he could go home to sleep. 

Jake glanced at the moon, debating. He sighed and gave up, laying Michael down and curling around the man to protect him. He made a mental note to make himself a burrow here where he could sleep in, instead of out in the open. 

Michael woke up first and confused. He looked up to see the hazy outline of a sunrise from under the water. The next thing he felt was two small arms wrapped around his middle, and a tail coils around his legs. Michael looked down to see Jake asleep, clinging onto him. He let himself smile faintly for a moment before gently petting the man’s head. 

Purrs slowly erupted from the man, but this time Michael could feel it too. It was coming from somewhere in his chest, slow and calm from the affection. He stopped, and the purrs died down. Jake nuzzled into Michael’s neck and made another noise. He was waking up. 

The merman opened his eyes and yawned, nuzzling deeper into Michael before pausing, realizing what he was doing, and let go. He uncoiled his tail and scooted back a few inches, unsure if he was awake yet or not. Jake moved slowly to where he could see Michael’s eyes, but they were closed. 

He took this chance to do something he was curious about. He slowly moved and touched Michael’s neck. Faint feelings came from the man, but just hardly. He pushed his hands under the mask, feeling his chin. Jake was not going to push it up. He knew Michael was uncomfortable with that. He just wanted to feel his face. Jake managed to rub Michael’s cheek when those eyes stared at him, void of emotion as always. 

Jake flushed instantly and shot his hands out of his mask, trying to get away. Michael had gripped his wrists and kept him close. “I-i wasn’t going to take it off!” He blurted out, trying to wiggle away from the stronger man. 

Michael asked if he wanted to see his real face, which made Jake freeze. He did, but he could feel the worry and hesitation from Michael. 

“Only if you want to show me.” Jake retorted, looking away. Michael let go of his wrists, but made no move to take it off. Jake realized he was sitting in Michael’s lap again and swam up a few inches. “Uh, you should, uhm, eat.” ‘He eats a lot. He should be hungry.’ Michael pushed off the river bottom and swam to the bank. 

Jake watched as Michael left towards the cabin. He rubbed his face. ‘Idiot. What was I thinking? What was I _doing_? Does he hate me?’ Jake swam around in circles, nervous he made a mistake and displeased his friend. He realized he had not eaten the fish Michael offered him.

He heard noises on the surface and popped his head out to look. He saw Michael returning with some of his own food, and the fish from earlier. ‘He thought about me and remembered..’ Jake pushed that warm feeling down but it kept bubbling back up. He laid down on the shore where it was only a few inches deep. Michael sat a foot away on dry land and tossed the fish to Jake, who was unprepared.

The fish slapped his face and splashed in the water below him. Jake was about to be pissed when he heard a quick snort from Michael. The merman growled, grabbed the fish, and began to eat it while refusing to look at the man as he ate his own food. 

It was nice and peaceful, just the both of them eating and enjoying one another’s presence. Jake looked up at Michael as he stood up. He had to do those ‘responsibilities’ again. Jake rolled onto his back and looked at the now upside down Michael. “Miss you.”

The man stared at him and turned on his heel back to the cabin. Jake knew Michael missed him as well. He wondered if he thought about Jake while working. 

‘I can’t think these thoughts, damnit. I’ll catch feelings.’


	7. Under the Mask

Jake rolled over onto his belly and stared at the place Michael walked away from. He flopped his head down on the sandy floor and groaned, glaring at the sky. 

He had to sort out his feelings. Jake had known no one in his life except his brother, mother, and father. Everyone else he met were there for only a few moments, then forgotten. His parents hardly talked to him, which he didn’t care about. 

His brother would try to talk to him any chance he got, but he was always so busy or tired. In all, Jake had been alone his entire life. He was fine with this, but now with Michael he had constant interaction and did not know how to deal with it. 

It was nice to be held and touched, as well as communicate with another being. Jake glanced towards the ocean. The ocean was huge and empty, yet full of life. He knew he could leave at any time, but Jake did not see an appeal. He could travel, yes, but how far until he got bored? If he settled somewhere, he knew he would get bored there too. 

Was it even safe out there? Jake thought back to the merpeople who managed to return home on the verge of death. If they could avoid Hunters for a long time and suddenly be attacked, why return home?

Something seemed.. off. Jake sat up and went back into the river, sitting at the lowest point and staring at the surface. He was avoiding the topic from before. 

Michael was just a friend. He was just feeling these things because he wasn’t used to interaction. Especially with a Hunter. 

Jake suddenly felt tense, like something was watching him. Michael? He swam to the surface and looked around but didn’t see his friend. Jake grabbed his bag and pulled out a knife, scanning the waters around but sensing nothing. 

He was being paranoid, but who wouldn’t be from nearly dying 3 times in a short timeframe? 

Jake hated the fact he felt more safe by the shore, where Michael could easily see and save him if he returned, instead of the river. That feeling of something watching him was still there, so he decided not to take chances and sat by the shore again. Were other Hunters even around? The entire week he was at Michael’s home, he did not sense any other threatening creatures. 

Well, except Michael. Michael gave off a vibe of evil occasionally, but since Jake’s abilities could understand and relay emotions, he knew that Michael never had any murderous intent. Until that leech happened, but that was different. 

Jake gripped his knife as he sensed another one of his kind nearby. Was this the feeling from earlier? It was too much of a coincidence. He found it very odd one of his kind went to explore, and happened near Jake. He was about 3 to 5 moons away from the kingdom, which meant this one knew where he went. 

He locked eyes with the other as they came down the river. Jake glared at them, noting they were a smaller male with blue features. 

“What do you want?” Jake snapped at the newcomer. 

The other smiled at him with a grin that made him shiver. The fuck?

“To collect and return you back home.” Their voice was low and scratchy and their eyes were distant. 

Whatever the fuck that thing was, it was not his kind. “I don’t want to go back to that hell. I’m fine here. No hunters have seen me. Go away, or I will stab you.” 

“I am not leaving until you are collected.” It said again, this time pulling out a long spear. Jake looked at it and instantly realized many things in that moment. Hunters were a lie, and the King was keeping his people trapped. “Just leave me the fuck alone! I don’t care about the fucking kingdom, if you want my oath to never return then take it.” Jake quipped at the other. 

The blue merman did not reply, instead charging at him. Jake realized his only escape was to kill another one of his kind, which may bring more since this one would have not returned, or to flee to the surface and out of the water. 

Jake decided in that moment that even if he fought and wounded the other and escaped, he would return with more. 

Damnit. 

Jake quickly pulled himself onto the shore, a few feet from the water. ‘damnit. fuck. I’m going to fucking die out here.’ He glanced at the sun, which was as high in the sky as it could go. Michael would return when it was low. That was more than enough time to dehydrate and die. 

The other merman watched with a sickening smile. Clearly, he would wait until he saw Jake slowly die. 

“Fuck you.” He hissed. Jake would have to drag himself to that disgusting pond to live. That’s when he saw the other crawling after him. Jake knew he did not know about the pond, but probably wanted to chase Jake far away or attempt to kill him faster. 

When he was close enough, Jake whipped around and punched the merman, who managed to slice his side. Jake grabbed the spear and shoved into the sand as fast as he could move. “Either watch me die out here or I will gouge out your eyes.” He hissed and tried to yank the spear away, but the other kept his grip. 

Jake took this moment to whack him as hard as he could with his tail, momentarily stunning him. Jake thrust the spear far into the surface world as he could and crawled away from the other. 

He had to fake his death so no other merpeople would return to kill him. He was _not_ going back to that hell hole. 

Jake crawled for his life, mud and grass sticking to him. He hated it but knew that he was in danger until they declared him dead. Jake’s arms hurt, and he tried to curl his tail and straighten to push, but it was tiring. He was hardly 50 feet from the shore, and knew he had a long way to go until he got to the pond. 

He looked behind him to see the merman watching him from the waters, waiting. He glared at him but knew something was.. off. When he had punched him, he had definitely felt a pure evil energy from him. 

Jake looked around. From this angle, he could see the faint outlines from Michael’s cabin far away and through the trees. He mentally sighed and continued to slowly drag himself towards the pond. 

By the time he even saw the pond, Jake was exhausted, cramping, covered in mud and who knows what else, and was very dry. While his skin was alright dealing with the lack of moisture, his tail and fins were not. It hurt to move them. But he could _see_ the pond. 

Even as disgusting as it looked it was the only safe place that he knew about. Jake knew he would not be able to drag himself inside Michael’s cabin from the getgo, so that idea was chucked out. 

Jake almost melted when he got to the muddy pond. He didn’t care he was dying slowly. He pulled himself into it and sighed in relief. It sucked to breath, like breathing through 3 masks, but he was alive. 

And, possibly, the merman assumed he died. That would be the best thing he could do. Even knowing where the pond was, Jake had hardly made it. The sun was low, but not low enough for Michael to return. Jake laid down on the grimy floor and closed his eyes to rest his aching body. 

Jake woke up when the moon was just peaking over the horizon. 

“Shit.”

He sat up, despite the aching pain, and looked around. He had made it to the pond but had no way to tell Michael what had happened. 

For all he knew Michael and the mysterious blue merman met. Fuck. Was Michael in danger? 

Jake debated crawling to his cabin, but his body hated even the thought. Jake swam around in circles. If he yelled, would Michael hear him? What if he attracted something else? The forest was definitely alive right now. He heard so many noises it was nearly deafening 

He was overthinking. Jake still had his knife, but not his bag. 

“UGH.” Jake ran his hand through his hair and went back to the spot in the pond closest to the cabin. “MICHAEL!” He called out, waiting a few moments. The noises he previously heard died down the moment he yelled, but some kept going. 

He heard something big moving closer. Even if it was Michael, Jake still hid. He did not want to take the chance of it not being Michael. Even if the Hunter’s didn’t exist and were actually weird merpeople, Michael’s kind did. He hid under some fallen logs and reeds and watched as a figure came running to the pond. 

Jake ignored the way his heart skipped a beat when he saw the familiar white mask. He saw worry in the man’s eyes. It was the first amount of emotion he had really seen Michael give. 

Jake swam over, and the man instantly got into the pond and yanked Jake out, holding him close. The amount of emotions radiating off of him was a lot, for Michael. He had been looking everywhere, genuinely scared. Jake relaxed against the man’s hold. 

Michael sat down, not caring about the mud, and refused to let Jake go. He showed Jake the spear, clearly wanting an explanation. 

“Haha.. Long story.” He ran a hand through his hair. “Can you take me to the tub? I’ll tell you there..” He mummered, glancing at the pond. It was like breathing in dirt all the time. He felt dirty. 

Michael was unmoving for a while, before scooping Jake up and carrying him towards the cabin. Jake rested his head on Michael’s chest and looked up at him. He still was giving off worried feel, but faintly now. 

Jake was set back in the tub, and Michael turned the water on. He sighed, knowing he had to explain. 

“My kind has been in hiding for tens of thousands of moons, way before I was born. We have been hiding from ‘The Hunters’ who, I thought, were your kind. Those who lived, returned with tales. The Hunters rode on tiny fast islands, and killed with silver spears. They lived only on the surface. Ever since I was born, I was told to never go to the surface.” 

Michael turned off the tub, still staring at him. He didn’t react, which Jake was expecting. 

“I couldn’t stand my life. I was always in the same cave. Nothing ever happened. So a few moons ago, I packed up what I could, and fled. I found you-“ Michael gave him a strange look. Jake coughed. “You found _me,_ and I thought that was the end of it. Apparently not.. from what I understand, they used your kind as a decoy, while my own kind, I think, kept merpeople in their place. One of my kind trailed me and tried to kill me.”

Jake noticed Michael tensing up. He was giving off that murderous vibe again. “So, I had a few options. Clearly, they knew I left, and if I’m right, the King does not want any of us to leave. He either kills or silences those who escape. If I killed or wounded him, others would still come until I was dead. So I faked my death by crawling to land.”

Michael just continued to stare. He obviously wanted to kill whoever dared to try to hurt Jake, which made Jake flustered. “I’m fine. I managed to crawl to the pond. He most likely thinks I dried up and died somewhere.”

The other man stared at him with a questioning look. Michael’s eyes flicked up to his hair, and he pulled out a twig. Jake huffed and gently swatted his hand away. This did not stop him, as he continued to pull bits of grass, reeds, and anything else stuck in his hair. 

“I’m not a child.” He hissed, but Michael did not slow down. Jake gave up and closed his eyes while Michael practically groomed him. 

Jake focused on his hands, and the few emotions the man had. Michael did not want to let Jake back into the river. It seemed every time Jake went back into the river, something dangerous would happen. 

He did not want to think about how he made Michael feel when he realized Jake was not in the river. The bigger man pulled away from Jake and stared at him. The merman looked up at him, trying to decipher what Michael was planning. 

He was not expecting the man to start pulling off his mask. Without thinking, Jake grabbed his wrist to stop him. He looked at Michael, trying to explain to him through emotion that he did not have to do this. 

Michael let go of his mask, and gently wrapped his hand around Jake’s. He moved his hand in a way that made Jake start pulling the mask up. 

Jake was a curious man. It was what had got him in this whole situation. He wanted to know, but Michael was trying to bury his fear. He both wanted Jake to take the mask off, and to not. 

What was under there? A squid? Something horrifying? Jake really wished he saw other Hunters so he had an average to go off of. He could hardly remember the first Hunter he saw, and it was in the dark from a bad angle for a few moments. 

“I won’t do it unl-“ Michael gripped Jake’s hand, signaling for Jake to just do it. 

And Jake did. He lifted Michael’s mask up slowly, stopping when he exposed the man’s mouth. Michael was staring down at him with indifference, but his emotions were tight. Jake struggled to feel anything from Michael, but fear was clear. 

He was worried Jake would hate him after what he saw. 

Jake couldn’t stop himself from rolling his eyes. “Idiot. Even if you have a damn shark head, I’m not going to leave you.” But from what he could see, Michael would have a face similar to his kind. “Do you want me to stop?”

The emotions had completely stopped, despite Jake touching the man’s exposed face, still holding onto his mask. Michael gave him a small nudge to his hands, telling him to continue. 

Jake slid the mask up more. He could feel Michael’s real hair tickling his fingers as he slid it off. And Jake was looking at the real face of Michael. He dropped the mask and blushed hard. He breathed in suddenly, not realizing he had been holding his breath. 

Michael was handsome. He had short brown hair, a sharp jawline, and his eyes. Jake could see his eyes perfectly now. One was bright blue, while the other was a milky white, blue just hardly there. Jake reached up and touched his scar. He had never seen anyone so stunning. Or Michael was just his type. 

Damnit. Of course he would be. Jake noticed Michael was still tense, the urge to put the mask back on was strong from him, but Jake squished his face. “At least let me touch your hair before you put that thing back on.”

The other stared at him, unresponsive. Jake took this as his invitation to touch it. 

Well, he knew why Michael liked touching his. Michael’s hair was soft. He pulled gently at some strands, running his hand through his hair. Michael had closed his eyes and was leaning into the touch. 

Probably from being tired. Working all day, and going to the river to find it Jakeless, and searching everywhere must have made him stressed. Michael did not seem to be used to this amount of emotion, and Jake wanted to make Michael relax. He still owed Michael a lot, and he seemed to enjoy this. 

Jake pet his hair until he knew Michael was asleep. Michael was leaning against the tub wall, and Jake mentally sighed. No chair, blanket, or pillow. 

The merman sat up, realizing he would have to move Michael once again to sleep in a decent position. He slid Michael onto the ground with one hand, while with the other he held him up long enough to make Michael’s head rest on one of his arms for a makeshift pillow. 

Jake wheezed when the heavier man was laying down. He laid his head on the tub side and stared at Michael’s face. He did wonder why Michael was so scared for Jake to see his face. Was it a Hunter thing? Was showing your real face to people like, really important to his kind? Jake blushed again and drained the murky water. 

As he refilled it, he sighed. Just to be on the safe side, he could never return to river. He turned off the water when it reached near the edges and laid down. How was he supposed to live now? Jake was not going to live in a tub all of his life. 


	8. The Move

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Its 12 am and I cant not write: Needed fluff

When Michael got to work, he was a bit annoyed. Before Jake, he looked forward to nothing, mainly using his job to pass time. He did use the money to buy supplies and food, but if Michael really wanted to, he could start hunting. 

Now, with Jake here, his job was an annoyance. It took away from his time with Jake. The merman was most likely bored at the riverside. Michael worked the full day with no breaks. He didn’t need one. 

Would Jake swim off if he took too long? What if another creature attacked him? Michael found himself thinking about Jake nearly the entire day. By the time it was 9:00, Michael was ready to leave. He left right on the dot, heading straight for the river. 

The moon wasn’t out yet, but it was rising slowly. Michael sat by the river bank and looked around. While it was dark, he could spot Jake easily since he knew what to look for. That familiar tail never appeared. Was he hiding? Michael would not let his new feeling of fear take him over. 

Michael glanced at his hand. The ring was on- He would never take it off. He wasted no time and went into the river. He checked up and down, looking anywhere he could hide. But, there really was no Jake. 

He climbed out, his fists balling up. Jake had left. He should have expected that. No one stays. Michael walked back towards the cabin and stepped on a stick, but it failed to break. It felt like a rod.

He stopped walking and looked down at his waterlogged shoes to see a spear. Michael picked it up and realized that something more had to of happened. He turned back towards the bank to now notice a couple of markings drug through the sand. 

Did Jake seriously drag himself out of the water to avoid whatever threw this spear?

That meant Jake was out of the water. Depending on how long ago this was, Jake could be dying. Michael would not allow this. 

He turned towards his cabin, assuming Jake would try to go there. He found it empty, with no trace of anything disturbed. Where would he be!? 

Michael was not scared. He did not feel scared. Whatever he was feeling, he wasn’t scared. Just worried the only person that liked him was dead. He did not _feel_ emotions. 

And he heard Jake yell his name. The pond. Why didn’t he think of that? It was the only source of water that Jake knew about that wasn’t the river. 

Michael found himself running there. It was extremely dark around the pond, with trees and thick fauna all around. Michael locked eyes with Jake and he felt relief. He could definitely feel relief. 

Michael picked Jake up and held him close before he even realized. That’s when he promised himself he would never let Jake out of his sights. 

He was in a predicament, though. How?

He had woken up and touched his face, feeling no mask. That had happened, and Jake didn’t scream. He actually seemed to like his face. 

Michael sat up and looked at the merman asleep in his tub. Jake could not go back to that river. Either the other mermaids would attack him, or something else would. Michael had to get Jake a big area of water that was safe if he wanted to keep a merman pet. 

Was Jake even a pet? When they first met Jake had not wanted to be one. Friend? Michael reached over and moved some hair away from his face. Jake was neither a pet, nor friend. It was something closer. Michael understood most social norms. Friends, best friends, couples, marriage. Michael didn’t have experience with any, but he was sure friends would not do a lot of the stuff they were doing. 

Michael continued to stare at Jake. He could make Jake a pool, but it would be small for Jake. Jake considered the river shallow, and it was close to 15 feet deep. Any sized pool would be tiny for him. 

He got up and retrieved his phone. He would just have to move where an unused, big, clean lake was, and live there where Jake was safe and Michael could watch him at all times. 

He liked this idea, but had to find a nearby lake that matched. How would he even get Jake there? Michael went onto Google Maps and looked around his area. There were a few ponds, but nothing close to what Jake would need, let alone want. 

He scrolled around the area until he found a very big lake. The photos showed it looked clean, and it was deep in the woods. 

Jake would probably want to go out to the ocean sometimes. Why was this so complicated? He wanted to stab something. Michael set his phone down and put his hand on Jake’s head. For some reason, he always felt somewhat calmer around Jake. He had only truly seen Jake terrified once, when they first locked eyes. Not even when Jake was near death from the net or leech did he look scared. Worried and fighting for his life? Yes. Scared? No. 

It made Michael want him more. He drug his hand through the unruly hair, enticing a low purr from the other. Michael kept doing this until he had the perfect plan to make Jake safe _and_ happy. 

Jake woke up slowly. He felt nice and relaxed. The more he woke up, the more he realized though. He was fucking _purring_. Jake stopped the moment he noticed, but so did the warm feeling. Which was Michael’s hand in his hair. Jake looked up at him with an embarrassed blush, refusing to acknowledge what he was previous doing. 

“When did you wake up?”

Michael did not respond, instead giving him a hazy feeling. He had been.. planning something for a while. Jake couldn’t figure out what, but assumed it was good? He watched as Michael moved from room to room, putting important things in a few bags and taking them outside. 

Were they moving locations? Jake sat up and stretched his tail, looking out the door to try to find Michael. When he couldn’t see him, he looked down and picked up the mask he dropped last night. 

Jake put it in the water and began to clean the inside of it. He had nothing else to do, and it probably needed a cleaning anyway. When it was clean, he slid it on his head and moved as low as he could on the tub floor with a smirk. 

Michael walked in and Jake popped up. He actually took a step back, not expecting this, but his face remained stoic as always. The man crouched beside the tub and grabbed the mask, pulling it off. Jake blushed at the realization Michael thought he was cute from the emotional-telekinesis when he brushed his skin. 

Michael put his mask back on and drained the tub. He touched Jake’s shoulder, attempting to explain what was happening. Jake had a vague picture that they were moving locations, trying to stay safe, but nothing specific. 

“Whatever. I trust you.” He mumbled the last part out. “Pick me up.” 

Michael did so, wrapping one arm around his chest, and the other around the middle of his tail to carry him bridal style once more. 

Jake flushed and wrapped his own arms around Michael’s neck as the man carried him to a strange vehicle. It was like the tiny island, but had wheels. 

He saw where he was going and groaned. “A fucking _KIDDIE POOL_?” 

Michael had bought and filled up a plastic child’s pool in the back of his truck. It would last two hours. If not, he had buckets of water beside it as well. 

“Michael I am going to kill you.” Jake hissed out. The man just ignored him and put him in the bright blue pool. “I’m literally going to kill you. Give me my knife.” Jake looked around for his bag. Michael had a smug glint in his eyes. It was inside the truck. 

Jake hated this so much. It was smaller and shallower than the tub, and it hurt. He was literally going to kill Michael, but he had got inside and started the truck. 

As if it couldn’t get any worse, the thing BOUNCED. Every divot and bump in the road hit his tail and it hurt. Water splashed out when Michael turned, and he would turn with it. “DAMNIT MICHAEL!” He hissed when they hit a pot hole. 

Despite this, Jake was amazed. He was traveling on the surface at high speeds. He could feel the wind rushing past and thousands of trees, bushes, animals, everything. It was a whole new sight. 

He was still going to kill Michael when he got out. 

Jake angrily grabbed one of the buckets and poured it into the pool when it got too low. He ducked when he saw other similar vehicles like Michael’s, too scared to be noticed. By the time Jake was about to jump out of the pool, out of the truck, and onto the evil dirt, because the vibrations hurt so much, it stopped. “Thank fuck.” Jake wheezed out. 

Michael got out and went to grab Jake, who punched him as hard as he could in the shoulder. “Never do that again.”

The man hardly felt pain from that. He just stared at the way Jake glared at him, and how his ear fins frilled outwards like they did when he was angry. He picked Jake up by the armpits and held him outward like a child. He _was_ heavy, but Michael had been hauling trees five times heavier than Jake since he was six. 

The annoyed look was worth it though. Jake was frowning. Michael understood he was at his limit. Jake was tired and annoyed and he was pushing his last buttons. It was interesting to see how “tall” Jake was compared to him. Even with a long tail, he was shorter. 

Michael then carried him in the opposite direction. Jake just gave up and leaned against him, too burnt out to continue fighting. 

Then without warning he was dropped into the lake. Jake sat up, grabbed Michael’s ankle, and yanked him in. He deserved that. 

The merman then turned his body where he was laying down on the surface, tail closest to Michael and lifted it up. Michael got a face full of water from that splash. 

Jake bust out laughing. He _knew_ Michael was frustrated. “Oh come on! You deserved that and you know it.” Jake teased. After calming down, he looked around in awe. It was like the pond, but a million times better. _Way_ bigger and cleaner. 

He was about to explore it when he stopped himself and went back to Michael. “Where are you going to live?” The man stared at him, giving no reply. Jake stared at him, annoyed. “Michael.”

He grabbed Jake’s wrists and pulled Jake onto his lap. Michael didn’t seem to notice the blush or how Jake tried to get free. He placed his hand on Jake’s chest. Home. Jake was his home. 

“No, stupid.” Jake pushed his hand away. “You need shelter. And food! Damnit. You eat like, every day! I cant provide that. I don’t care if I have to live in a damn tub, I’m no-“ Michael pushed his pointer finger against Jake’s lips to shush him. He then pointed at a small building across the lake. Jake relaxed a bit upon seeing that. He looked to Michael again and leaned against his chest. “Then what about food?” 

Michael could not explain this emotion. Jake was worried about him and it made him feel very warm. That Jake would go back to siting in that tub all day if it meant Michael being alright. He gently set Jake aside and went to go park his truck beside the one bedroom cabin. Michael had to buy it. There was no town in any radius around, so he would have to survive by fishing and hunting. Michael didn’t dislike this, as it meant more time with Jake, but it was harder to do. 

He glanced out of his window to see Jake following the truck as he drove up to the cabin, which was roughly 50 feet from the lake. He placed his bags inside, took off his shoes, and went back to Jake. 

The merman did not feel like exploring right now. The sun was setting, and he just wanted to be with Michael. Michael was likewise, and sat at the bank of the lake, staring at Jake. He slid his shirt off before moving into the water beside the merman. 

Jake leaned against him and closed his eyes. In the past few moons he had left his old life behind, fought a shark, got strangled in a net, nearly died to a leech, and chased into land after from a weird merman. He was exhausted mentally and psychically. Jake just wanted.. “Michael. Can you hold me?” He blushed from his words, but was not backing down. 

Michael obliged, wrapping his arms around the smaller male and resting his head on him. Jake couldn’t help but purr quietly. Everything Michael did for him was nice. He had saved him from the net, the leech, and took care of him in his tub. This situation must be as weird or weirder to him than Jake. 

He reached up and gently slid the mask off of Michael, touching the man’s face once more. Michael looked down at him, and Jake swore he saw a faint tug of his lips. Was he smiling? Jake blushed lightly and looked away. “You can’t sleep in the water. You’ll get cold.” He shrugged Michael’s arms off, but they held on tighter. 

Jake sighed and leaned against Michael’s chest again. He listened to the heartbeat and his breathing. He was so warm. Jake did wonder something. 

“How come you never take off this clothing?” Jake motioned to his shorts. Michael had no problem taking off everything else except these. He stared at the other, noting a very faint red tint bloom on his cheeks. Oh no. Was it like the mask? “Oh come on, Michael. I’ve seen your face. What could possibly be there that I would hate?” Michael actually looked away. Jake could only feel tinges of embarrassment, but nothing more from the man. 

To explain Michael’s emotions was to explain the space. It was like dunking your head into a well and hearing an echo from miles away. You could hear it, but hardly. This was how Jake felt Michael’s emotions. It was as if Michael pushed any and all feelings down so far, like it was a curse to _feel._

“Ok, well, don’t hug me if you’re wearing clothes then.” Jake pushed away from the arms. Michael gave him a slight annoyed look. “You _know_ I hate cloth and clothes! Its so itchy and it sticks to everything. Its awful!” Michael placed his arms at his sides and kept staring. “Either take those off or go to sleep early.” 

Jake really thought he would win. Instead, Michael grabbed his mask and went inside the small hut. He flopped his head on the shore and groaned. 

Why were those pants so important? He was dying to know how those two twigs connected to his body. Jake remembered how Michael seemed very curious how his tail merged with his skin. This was not fair. 

He rolled over onto his stomach, moving just far enough where he was completely submerged, but as close to the shore as possible. Jake crossed his arms and laid his head on them, deciding to fall asleep like this. 


	9. Happiness

Michael woke up when the sun first peaked over the horizon. He sat up in his bed, which was just a mattress on the floor. He stood up and looked out of the window, seeing Jake asleep with his arms crossed. 

Why had he been so adamant about taking off his pants? Michael turned to the neglected bags he tossed on the ground the day before and began to unpack. He didn’t bring, or need, much. It was a two roomed shed, with the bare minimum. A tiny kitchen and bedroom. 

Michael had chosen this because there was a drain in the lake somewhere that led to the ocean about a mile away. He didn’t look into it much, but something about an abandoned.. something. He didn’t care. 

What he did know was that the hatch could possibly open and close. And if it couldn’t, he would make it work. 

Michael changed his clothes and walked outside, sitting beside his sleeping friend. Jake did not move a lot while he slept, Michael noticed. While he never favored water before, he could get used to this. 

The merman stirred from the sudden movement from Michael sitting beside him, blinking a few times and looking up to the other. 

Jake pouted at him and turned, swimming towards the lake. He was still upset from last night, wasn’t he? Michael decided to let Jake be for a while before going after him if he took too long. 

The angry merman swam along the edges of the lake slowly. Seriously, why couldn’t Michael just tell him what was going on? He understood for the mask, having felt Michael’s pain from when he was younger, but the pants?

Jake growled. Frustrated, he swam back where Michael was waiting. He was going to get an answer or _something_ out of the man as to why he loved wearing clothes. 

He stopped a few feet from Michael, where the water was at his shoulders when sitting down. The other stared at him before quietly taking off his mask and walking over to Jake. 

Jake could never predict the man. He scooted lower from Michael with the water above his nose to hide his blush. Jake sometimes despised the fact Michael was massive. Where the water was on his face, it only came up to Michael’s shoulders. 

He brushed his tail against Michael’s leg, (attempting to) threatening him that he either explain why pants were so important, or to go away for the day. 

Michael gave him no reply for a couple of minutes. Jake kept his tail beside Michael’s leg while he picked up rocks on the lake bottom. 

He picked one up to look at it closer when Michael gently grabbed his hand. Jake looked up at him, huffing. “What?”

The man kept staring at him, not reacting to Jake’s words or feelings. How was he going to explain this to him, so Jake would stop pouting?

He looked away, trying to tell Jake through emotions how he wore them for decency. Jake gave Michael a confused look. 

Michael would have to spell it out to the merman. He looked at Jake again and squeezed his hand, attempting to explain it clear to him. Every human wore clothes to hide their more sexual organs. 

That made the other blush red and quickly start stuttering. “I- i- fuck I didn’t know-“ He sputtered out and tried to scoot away from Michael, who pulled him closer. He was not embarrassed, nor did he care. He was just.. glad? Michael was glad Jake wasn’t sulking anymore. 

After a few moments Jake calmed down, but the blush stayed. He was fiddling with the rocks once more, trying to avert his attention to anything but Michael. The bigger man did not like this. Instead of upset, Jake was now flustered. 

He grabbed his tail firmly and yanked Jake onto his lap. Michael liked being able to hold him this close. He felt Jake liked it as well, but acted like he did not. 

He rested his head on Jake’s and stared at the lake. The sun was lighting up most of the land now, and he could see the lake floor better than before. Jake’s tail was in between his legs, relaxed. However his hands were steading the rest of his body by gripping onto Michael’s hips. He never noticed before, but Jake had some sharp claws. While it didn’t hurt, he did notice it. 

Michael reached down and grabbed one of Jake’s hands gently, pulling it away and intertwining his fingers with Jake as best as he could, since Jake had webbed fingers. The merman squeezed Michael’s bigger hand and looked up at him. He could never tell his intentions. 

Michael’s hand left Jake’s and began to gently rub his side. He was trying to get Jake to relax. It worked. Jake leaned against Michael completely and had to stop himself from purring. 

Until Michael rubbed across the gills on his side. Jake tensed up again, the hand that never left Michael’s hip gripped his skin more. He could tell Jake both hated and slightly liked the feeling, but decided not to touch his gills again. 

The merman grabbed his arm and suddenly bit his hand before swimming off. Michael tilted his head to the side a bit and stared at the bite mark before looking at Jake, who had a smug look on his face. That was payback for touching his gills, he assumed. 

Michael got up and stood in place, watching Jake closely. Jake had expected Michael to chase him. Why was he standing still? Was he stuck? He swam a bit closer to Michael, when the man kicked off the floor and tackled Jake before he could react. 

Jake refused to acknowledge the noise he just made. Michael had his arms wrapped around Jake’s body, keeping his arms to his sides. “If it’s a fight you want, it’s a fight you’ll get!” Jake smirked and whacked Michael with his tail, but the grip did not loosen. He then bit Michael’s shoulder, taking the split second of the grip faulting to slide down and pushing Michael away from his stomach. This both pushed Michael up, and Jake down. 

To Jake’s surprise, Michael rebounded fast and swam after him. However, Jake was made to swim and darted away before Michael reached him. He stuck his tongue out at Michael, which made Michael slightly agitated. It was on. 

Michael swam after Jake, who quickly darted away to hide. No, Jake wouldn’t hide. To ambush. 

He looked around, seeing nothing, but he could feel Jake’s eyes on him. Michael liked hunting. He liked the feeling of stalking prey and killing it. Jake was not normal prey. Jake would watch him and possibly attack him. Plus, Michael would not kill this prey. 

Jake was hiding low in some reeds, unmoving. He waited until Michael was under him to swim up as fast as he could and smack into Michael hard. He wrapped his arms around the man’s middle, pinning his arms down, and coiled his tail around his legs. 

“Got you.” He looked at Michael, smiling smugly. The other just stared at him with unfeeling eyes, letting Jake relish the moment. Michael moved his arms outward, feeling Jake struggle to keep the man’s arms at his sides, but breaking the hold easily. “Oh fuc-“ Michael grabbed Jake’s shoulders and easily slipped him off of his legs. 

He enjoyed the moment of fear displayed on Jake’s face, which was rare, before pulling Jake in and holding him like last time. A bite would not weaken him this time, though. 

Jake struggled against Michael’s hold, trying to worm his way out. When that didn’t work, he trashed his tail, trying to push off of Michael. 

He yelped when he felt a warm spark from Michael suddenly. It felt like when a stray spark from a sparkler on New Years hit your skin. Michael seemed just as shocked from the feeling as Jake was and let go, but moved to hold Jake’s hand. 

HUNGRY? Jake felt Michael ask. Jake rubbed his face with his free hand. He was slightly hungry, but he knew Michael had to eat every day. Michael definitely was. Jake didn’t sense any fish big enough to be satisfying to eat. 

Michael sent him a hazy emotion to search for something. An opening? To the ocean? Jake knew by now to just not question some things Michael did and swam off to search for this strange thing. Michael went another direction to look for it as well. 

Jake swam to the lakes sides’ and found an odd... tube thing. Was this what Michael tried to explain? He swam around it, confused. The surface was still very weird to him. Jake didn’t know if he would ever get used to it. 

He flinched when he felt Michael touch his head. The man stood on top of the tube, examining it. He turned a strange looking lever, and the thing opened slowly. Jake found himself hiding behind Michael as the tube made weird gurgling noises, and stilled after a few minutes. 

Jake looked at Michael, who seemed bored if anything. He swam towards the entrance and looked down it. Nothing. Just a quiet tube. Jake did not want to go down that. 

Michael grabbed his wrist and swam down the tube. He sensed no fear from the man, which scared him more than the pipe. 

And he was dragging him down. Jake grabbed onto Michael’s hand and swam down it, glancing at Michael frequently. He realized that Michael could not see. 

Damn. The ring didn’t give him nightvision. Michael was completely trusting Jake here, even if he was the one who made the merman go down the pipe in the first place. 

Jake moved his hand in front of his face, but Michael didn’t react. Well, he really couldn’t tell if Michael could see or not. When he looked back, he could see a bit of light and taste the salt of the ocean. He tried to understand what Michael was feeling. Was he exited? Happy? Curious? He just felt nothing from the man. 

Michael squeezed his hand, trying to tell Jake to hurry up. He felt tinges of huger from him but nothing more. 

Jake rolled his eyes and dragged Michael out of the pipe. Seaweed and coral hid the entrance well enough. 

“Oh fuck.” Jake groaned. He forgot his knife. Michael squeezed Jake’s hands again, and he looked at his friend. 

The merman blushed at the sight. Michael was a bit lower than him, his hair slowly moving because of the currents, and the sun was hitting his face just right. 

Jake shoved Michael’s face away, trying to hide his embarrassment. He realized Michael was telling him to just use those sharp claws. He pulled away from Michael and huffed. “I- I knew that. Don’t go far.” Jake had a great sense of direction, but he did not know if Michael did. 

Jake swam off with the flick of his tail to hunt down two fish. Did Michael eat raw stuff? He had seen the man cook food and make things with seemingly random items and eat it. 

Weird. 

Jake stayed low and still, watching as schools of minnows passed overhead. After a few moments, a couple of bass followed after the minnows. 

Jake clinched his hand and pushed off the floor, grabbing a bass quickly and holding onto it. The rest had darted away before Jake could try to get another. 

He swam back to Michael with the freshly killed food and gave it to him. The man stared at it, not doing anything. Jake sighed. “I’m getting my own food.” He turned and left, feeling Michael’s eyes on him the entire time. 

Michael looked at the dead fish. Should he try to eat it raw? Raw fish was fine, he knew that, but he was underwater. In the ocean. Eating would be very difficult underwater, and with a whole raw fish. 

He turned it over and examined the claw punctures Jake gave to the fish. They were precise, killing it instantly and painlessly. Why had Jake wanted his knife?

Michael looked out into the open ocean, now slightly weary for Jake. Of course. Jake almost died a few times since he escaped his home. 

He thought back to when they met. Before, he had not felt anything. When he did, it was rare and small. Since he met Jake, he felt more emotion from himself, as well as actually feeling emotions from another being. 

Michael squeezed the fish a bit and a faint tint spread across his cheeks. He was thinking back to when he was holding Jake close to him when he felt that warm feeling. It was one of the strongest emotions he had ever felt. 

He blinked when a hand waved in front of his face. Jake was staring at him, worry displayed on his face. “Michael? Are you alright?” 

He let go of the fish, it fell to his lap, and he grabbed Jake’s face. The merman didn’t move, but his worry still stayed. He pulled Jake close to another hug, nuzzling his head in his hair and closing his eyes. The other was still worried but relaxed against him, now holding both fish. 

Michael knew what that warm feeling was. It was on the borderline of _love_ and _want_ for Jake. 

Jake wiggled out of his hold. “Lets eat, and then you can hug me or whatever.” He mumbled the last part out and handed Michael one fish. With his now free hand, he grabbed Michael’s hand and pulled him back down the pipe towards their lake. 

When they got back, Michael sat on the shore and stared at the fish. 

‘Maybe he doesn’t know how to eat fish?’ Jake thought while sitting in front of Michael in the water. He lifted the bass up and took a bite right at its stomach. 

Michael watched closely, not reacting as always, but he seemed to be intrigued. He could see Jake’s teeth, which were like a humans but more sharp. He looked at his shoulder to see a couple of fading, tiny pricks from earlier. He felt something inside him that wanted to see more of those. 

He ignored the new feeling and flipped the fish over, flopping lifelessly in his hands. Michael got up and went inside, leaving Jake to eat the bass alone. 

He curled his tail around himself and sat facing the cabin, eating everything he could before burying the remains. Jake tried to look into the cabin through the window and was pleased to see that he could see most of the house. Jake watched Michael cut open the fish carefully and begin to cook it. 

He came outside, holding the cooked fish, and ate it while sitting in front of Jake again. 

Jake watched curiously. The fish looked completely different and weird. Michael ripped off a bite sized piece and reached over, pushing it to Jake’s lips who immediately blushed red and parted his lips. 

“Whoa.” He chewed the cooked fish in awe. Michael could almost see sparkles in the man’s eyes. “It tastes so good! And its chewy!” Jake licked his lips and smiled at Michael, whose eyes never left the merman. 

“I see why you cook your food now. Next time I eat can you cook mine too?” Jake asked him. Michael gave a small nod and finished the bass. He dragged himself to sit beside Jake again. The smaller leaned against him before Michael did anything, and curled his tail around one of his legs. 

It was a nice feeling, Jake holding onto him. That empty feeling he had his whole life was filled by Jake, and Michael truly felt happy for once. 


	10. The Bond

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is the part with smut - Enjoy

It had been months since Michael first met Jake. Since they moved, they got into a rhythm. They would hunt for the majority of one day a week and store the extra food in a freezer. Michael had been the one to come up with this plan because it maximized their time together. 

They had grown a lot closer as well. On warm nights, Michael would sleep outside with Jake. The merman always coiled his tail around his legs, hugging his middle, and burying his face in his neck. In return, Michael would wrap his arms around Jake and bury into his head as they slept. 

He rarely wore his mask now, which Jake seemed to like. At odd times the merman would randomly touch Michael with a confused look no matter how many times he saw and interacted with them. Mainly his legs. He liked it when the other did this, so he never stopped it. 

Now, Michael had never had any attraction to anyone before, but he considered Jake beautiful. His heart always felt strange when he thought of Jake, but a good strange. 

Jake was currently asleep beside him. The weather was a bit too cold for comfort, but Michael would never pass up the chance to sleep with Jake. He laid down behind him, his own chest to Jake’s back, one curled his arm over Jake’s stomach, and the other was being used as Jake’s personal pillow. Michael could feel the brush of his gills on his arm as the other breathed. 

Jake shuffled, scooting closer towards Michael before settling. Michael sometimes wished he could stare at Jake forever. He looked down to where his hand was on his stomach, and began to gently rub. While the merman didn’t react, he felt Jake’s sleepy emotions go from content, to relaxed. 

He had never taken the time himself to touch Jake’s body; it wasn’t fair since Jake always did it to him. Michael could be eating when Jake would suddenly touch his face, or stare at his feet with perplexity. He only got to do it sometimes. 

Now would be a good time, Michael realized. Of course, he was most interested in the main difference between him and Jake: the tail. He trailed his hand down to Jake’s hip, feeling the skin turn to smooth scales. He began to rub where the side of Jake’s thigh would be. 

Jake still hadn’t reacted, but welcomed the touches. Michael closed his eyes and focused on petting Jake’s tail for a while. He stopped when he heard Jake gasp and squirm, as well as his emotions changing to surprise. He didn’t move, instead opening his eyes and watching Jake resettle until he was content again in a few moments. 

If Michael had never felt curious before, he was now. He retraced his last steps, gently and slowly sweeping his hand over Jake’s tail until he felt Jake’s emotions seem to twist. Michael looked down. His hand was over where, if Jake had legs, his dick would be. 

He had never thought of this before, but where even was it? Merpeople had to reproduce, right? While Michael wasn’t too keen on what his own species did, he was sure having no parts to reproduce would be fatal. 

Michael rested his hand there, Jake’s tired emotions were swirling slowly, like a whirlpool. He pressed his thumb down and swept it across, watching Jake’s face. 

Jake let out a quiet groan and he quickly buried his face into Michael’s arm. He loved this noise. Before he could react, Jake’s whirlpool of emotions picked up speed. He was close to waking up, so Michael removed his hand and rested it back on his stomach. 

He was not going to forget this.

The next day Jake was.. off. Ever since they woke up he had stayed a bit of distance away and blushed a lot more if Michael touched him. He stuttered a lot too, and tried to make up excuses to be alone for a bit. 

Jake was sitting in two feet deep water, his tail coiled around him and refusing to look at Michael. Michael just stared at him. He scooted closer, but Jake scooted back. He did not like this. 

“Michael.. We have been by each others side since we met. I was alone all my life until that point! My social meter is at its peak.” Jake spoke fast and only glanced at him. 

Michael knew he was fibbing, but decided to let it go. If Jake wanted to be alone for a bit, he could. He did wonder why  now of all times? Michael looked to where Jake swam off. If he went searching now, he could find Jake in 10 minutes depending on where he was. 

They both knew all the ins and outs of the lake, having actually played hide and seek (to Jake’s insistence) nearly every day. Michael got up and went to go look for Jake. He was bored without him, and the man had never acted this way before. 

It didn’t take long for Michael to find Jake curled up in one of the coldest and darkest spots. He could hardly see him. Michael decided instead of going up to him, he would watch, but since he wanted to hide from a merman who could see in pitch black, he had to hide behind him. 

He had no idea what Jake was doing. His tail flicked occasionally, but curled back up. That was a Jake thing though. Michael found when Jake was stressed or worried, his tail would coil around him. It was.. cute. 

What wasn’t a Jake thing was his gills. He was breathing fast, from what he could tell in the dark shadows. Was he.. crying? He had never seen Jake cry, now that he realized it. _His_ merman? Sad?

Michael felt twinges of something deep inside him telling him to protect his thing. For once, he listened to his emotion and got up to go to Jake. 

He knew the merman would try to swim away and hide the moment he knew Michael was near, so he would have to grab him. Jake shrieked when Michael suddenly wrapped his arms around him. “W-what are y-ou doing!?” Jake tried to push his arms away, pushing off of him with his tail. 

Michael almost let him go from the flood of emotions Jake smacked onto him. How could someone feel both happy and sad at once, as well as confused, conflicted.. relieved? 

Jake slowly gave up and huffed. “I should have known you’d follow me.” Without skipping a beat, Michael pushed off the floor and moved to a shallower area. Deep enough Jake was comfortable, but high enough Michael could see him perfectly. 

Jake’s face was completely red, and embarrassment was leaking off of him. What was he doing? The merman started to talk, diverting the situation. 

“L-like I said I just needed some space. It was only like, what, 50 or so moons ago that my life completely changed?” Michael’s hold on him grew firmer, pulling Jake in his lap. The merman went silent and stared at nothing. 

Michael let go of him and reached up, cupping Jake’s face with both hands. _Do mermaids cry_? He asked Jake through the bond. 

In a split second, he felt Jake’s emotions almost twist inward and it hurt. Was this sadness? “Yes.” Jake said, his voice cracking slightly. He had not wanted Michael to see him cry. Why was he sad?

Jake _looked_ sad. His body was relaxed, and his eyes had lost a spark, like he was drained. It reminded him of how Jake was laying in the tub, dying because of that gigantic leech. 

He pulled the merman close, wrapping his arms around his chest tightly. Jake made a strange noise and began to cry, clinging onto the man and wrapping his tail around him as many times as he could. 

They stayed like this for a while, until Jake was sniffling and laying against his chest. He gently pulled Jake off and without warning, kiss him. 

Well, more like just pushing lips together. Michael felt Jake go from absolutely drained and recovering, to _holy shit what the fuck_ in a happy sense. Jake quickly kissed back, blushing softly before pulling away. “M-Michael.” The merman asked, but didn’t know what to say. 

Michael looked away from Jake’s eyes to his lips before cupping one cheek again and rubbing his thumb across his lips. Jake nervously opened them, expecting something more intimate. 

Instead Michael just looked inside his mouth with curiosity. “Hhicaal!” Jake angrily said his name against his fingers. He bit Michael’s thumb hard, but not hard enough to bleed. The bigger took that as he should take his finger out, unless he wants to have 9 for the rest of his life. 

When it was removed, Jake kissed his lips again, moving them slowly. Michael followed him and realized why. It felt.. nice. Jake parted his lips, and Michael felt that primal urge again. To claim what was his. 

He grabbed Jake’s sides and slid his tongue in his mouth, making the smaller moan softly. Jake was not expecting a reaction like this from him. Not at all. He clung onto Michael tighter with his tail and moved his hands to his hair, playing and tugging it slightly. He could feel Michael’s emotions better now, which meant he was clearly feeling, instead of shoving them aside. 

Michael moved from his lips to his neck, which made Jake tense. His gills were sensitive and could easily be harmed, but he trusted Michael. Jake flinched and gasped when the man kissed, and then licked one of his gills. It felt amazing. Michael was rubbing his hips with both hands and licked across each gill, teasing Jake almost on purpose. 

He liked seeing Jake squirm and bite his lip. Michael moved to the other side, but this time sucked his neck in between the gills. Jake gripped his hair and moaned softly again, and Michael knew in that moment he wanted to hear Jake over and over again. 

“M-michael wait.” Jake panted out, letting go of his hair. Michael didn’t want to, so he kept his mouth on Jake’s neck and looked up at him with a look that said answer quickly. 

Jake visibly shuffled and looked away. “U-uhm, you.. your..” Michael nipped at his neck, making Jake squeak before he could try to hide the noise. “Damnit Michael!” Jake was agitated and suddenly grabbed his wrists. “You’re teasing me.” He growled lowly. 

Michael gave him a blank stare and looked at Jake’s hands. Jake uncoiled his tail from Michael’s waist and looked down, blushing hard. Michael had an obvious bulge and did not seem to realize it. 

‘Is this really happening?’ Jake asked himself with a blush. It was, and he wanted it. He wanted to make Michael feel what he was feeling, too. Jake didn’t know anything about what was under there, but he knew Michael was aroused. 

The man grabbed Jake and nipped his neck again, marking the skin to claim him over and over. He felt Jake’s gills rapidly fluttering against his face before freezing. His tail (purposefully) nudged between his legs. 

Michael didn’t react other than that, and Jake realized if he wanted any reaction from him he would really have to dig for it. While he was inexperienced, he was not new to the situation. If Michael was anything like from what he vaguely knew about his own kind, then he could do this. 

Jake thought he could, until Michael swept his thumb across a very specific spot. He reacted by biting Michael’s shoulder to not make a noise he would be embarrassed over. ‘How did Michael-‘ He did it again, this time in circles. Jake gripped Michael’s sides and let out a low moan. Fuck. 

The moment he had time to react, Jake let go of Michael and literally tore his boxers off. Jake felt relief for many things. One, he could destroy the clothing he hated the most, and two was because Michael was only slightly different. 

Michael gave him a slight annoyed look, to which Jake smirked. “Oh come on! You _know_ how much I hate clothing.” He then coiled his tail around Michael’s legs before grabbing his member carefully, looking up at his lover to see if it was alright. 

Like always, Michael wasn’t reacting. Jake did notice how his breathing was faster, and his hands gripped and released Jake a lot. The merman realized he was holding back to let Jake pleasure him for the time being. 

Blushing, he began to slowly stroke the man. He wanted to tease him back from before, but Michael was not having that. He pulled Jake forward and began to bite and suck on his shoulder and gills again, to which Jake sped his pace up a bit. 

He felt a warm spark from Michael. It was an emotion of _pleasure, want,_ and _need_. Jake wanted Michael, too. No. He needed him. He stopped stroking Michael to his displeasure and uncoiled from his legs. 

Whatever Jake was about to do was stopped by Michael, whom pinned him down against the lake floor and kissed him again, this time it seemed he was trying to devour him. 

“Nng, fuck! Mi-michael..” Jake moaned out while the bigger pinned his arms above his head with one hand. The other held Jake down by his side, with Jake’s tail in between his legs. He was not able to move far, which Michael seemed to have wanted. 

The man trailed his mouth lower, biting and sucking anywhere he could reach. Jake was biting his lip to hold back the moans, which made Michael determined to hear him scream. 

Jake squeaked when Michael bit his nipple, making the merman flush. “More! F-fuck. Stop teasing m-me!” He growled out again, but there was nothing he could do. He was under Michael’s complete control. 

Jake swore Michael smirked ever so slightly as he made the man sexually frustrated. He was going to go on until Jake begged for him. 

Michael looked up to see the fins behind Jake’s ears pin against his head as the merman realized he would have to beg if he wanted more. He was a stubborn man, though, and would do his best to never give in, but he knew he would not last long when it was Michael. The man just knew how to push his buttons perfectly. 

Michael gripped his wrists he was pinning harder before using his free hand to reach around Jake and stroke the fin on his back. While not pleasurable, Jake clenched his teeth, knowing Michael was doing this to spite him. To touch him somewhere Jake did not want. 

“Fuck y-you.” He growled and thrashed his tail, trying to free himself from Michael’s grasp. Michael was like a brick wall and hardly moved, so Jake decided to ‘accidentally’ brush against his dick with his tail. Michael froze, staring at Jake with anger in his eyes. 

Jake smiled smugly and did it again, knowing he was also driving the man insane. Michael darted his hand down quickly and forced his tail to go flat against the floor. Jake tensed up at the hand slid closer to that area, but never touching. 

“Damnit Michael!” He tried to break his hands free, to no avail. “S-Stop fucking teas- _oohh_ ” Michael had suddenly rubbed the spot without warning. Jake nearly melted from finally getting some relief. 

He felt twinges of confusion from Michael as to what he should do. For Jake, he could always see and touch Michael’s dick. The merman snorted a bit and looked at Michael. “Listen, if our dicks hung out like that, so many fish would try to eat it.” He squirmed a bit, apprehensive to explain it. It was... weird trying to explain this. “Uhm, i-it comes out when I’m exc- FUCK!”

Before he could even finish his sentence, Michael had rubbed it again, understanding. The scales acted like a plate and when Jake was aroused, it could easily come out. However, this wasn’t his only goal. 

He looked up at Jake, who had hooded eyes and was staring at him, lips parted as the man breathed through his gills. “M-michhaahh..” Michael stared back at Jake, feeling something warm from where he was rubbing. 

He gently stroked it with one finger, making Jake squirm and bite his lips so hard they bled. “Nng~ F-faster.” Jake pleaded. 

That was not enough begging. He squeezed Jake’s wrists again and stroked him slower this time. His hips jolted to get more friction, but Michael quickly stopped touching him all together to hold him down. 

All of his gills were moving fast and Jake looked like he was about to murder Michael. The bigger asked him a question through the bond, but Jake couldn’t understand it through his own pleasure and the fact that even when he was normal, Jake could barely understand him. 

“W-what? What are y-you asking?” What could be so important to ask right now? Jake felt Michael look down at his tail and began touching up and down it, as if searching for something else. 

Oh shit. Jake blushed madly and wiggled away from his prying hands. “W-why do you want that?” He stuttered out, not understanding. 

Jake had known Michael for months, and they connected through the bond every day, but no clear words or feelings came through. Jake felt Michael with absolute clarity this time. 

_To claim you._

Jake felt his world freeze from those words. He looked up at Michael and bit his cheek. “F-fine.. I’ll show you b-but only if you let my wrists go!” The other contemplated this bargain for a moment, before releasing both of Jake’s arms. Jake rubbed his wrists before sitting up, kissing Michael, and grabbing his hand. 

Damn this was so embarrassing. Michael had no shame, and Jake was dying of embarrassment. He guided Michael’s hand down and toward a specific spot. 

The man watched Jake’s face as he did. It went from nervous, to embarrassed, to hiding his face in his chest. His hand had stopped guiding him, so he pressed down where Jake stopped him only to have the merman jolt in his lap. 

He cupped Jake’s face with his free hand, making Jake look at him before kissing him once more. He was going to claim Jake today, tomorrow, and any chance he got. Michael was going to make sure Jake knew that he was  his  and his  alone. 

Jake kissed back, slowly this time as he moved to hold onto Michael. What was he going to do? Jake roughly knew about everything that happened before, but now he was going into unknown areas. Michael seemed to know what he was doing, and he trusted him, so Jake swallowed what little pride left in him and coiled his tail around his waist. 

“I’m going to bite you if you tease me again.” He warned. Michael was amused by this and tailed his finger around the spot slowly. “Fuck you, M-Michael. Sometimes I think you en-enjoy my pain.”

While Michael liked seeing Jake squirm and refuse to beg for what he wanted, he did not like when Jake was hurt (unless by himself). He tilted his head slightly to the side, staring at Jake, waiting. 

“D-do something already!” And Michael pushed his finger in without warning. Jake moaned and froze from this new feeling, trying to process what was going on. What was Michael planning? Whatever it was, it didn’t feel _bad_ . 

Michael absolutely loved the noise Jake just made. The merman didn’t have the time to try to muffle or hide it, and he saw Jake’s face as he did it. 

Jake then buried his head in Michael’s neck, and he began to move the finger in and out at a slow pace, making the merman gasp and adjust to the intrusion. 

“Mnn.. M-michael.. more.” He said quietly. Michael wanted to tease him, but he could do that another time. Michael added a second, making the merman gasp and bite his shoulder to try to distract from the pain. 

Jake’s tail was rocking between his legs, rubbing him just right as he adjusted. Michael felt the warmness below his stomach growing every minute at the feelings and sights of Jake slowly submitting to him. 

He was pushing against the fingers now. Michael pulled both all the way out, and realized in that moment his fingers felt ice cold from the water. Jake was both hot inside, and had natural lubricant. 

The merman whined from the loss of fingers and was about to say something when Michael pushed three in quickly, focusing on what he could see of Jake’s face, and feeling him stretch. 

“Oohh.. M-michael..” He moved his fingers faster, spreading them out to try to stretch Jake more. Jake was a moaning mess but still refused to beg. 

He pulled his hand away suddenly, making the smaller growl and squirm. “What the h-hell? Michael!” Sharp claws gripped his sides where Jake had been steadying himself. He just traced Jake’s entrance slowly, staring directly at him. 

Jake did not want to beg. Not yet. If he kept this up, maybe he could break Michael before Michael broke him. Fuck, that felt amazing though. The bigger pushed his thumb in and rubbed his walls for only two seconds before pulling out again, leaving Jake gasping. 

He needed Michael. Now. “Michael _please_ .  Please d-don’t stop.” Jake was shaking slightly, looking at him in the eyes. He saw Michael’s lips tug just a hair into a smirk. If he wasn’t looking at Michael he would have never seen it. 

The bigger man grabbed Jake and pinned him to the floor, leaning over him and pushing his body flush against Jake’s, leaving no space between them. 

The puzzle pieces connected and Jake realized what Michael was about to do. “P-please.” He choked out, craning his neck to look at Michael. 

Michael had life in his eyes for once, and was staring directly at Jake. He kissed his cheek, lining up and slowly pushing into him. Despite the earlier stretching, Jake was still tight and burning hot. He buried his head in the merman’s neck, gripping his wrists harder. 

Jake was moaning softly and trying to not show he was in pain. It felt so good, but hurt at the same time. Michael was everywhere around him; inside, holding him, and through the bond. He coiled his tail around Michael’s waist and closed his eyes, waiting to see if the pain would go away. 

Michael sucked on his gills, making more marks on the merman’s neck as he let him adjust. He began to shallowly thrust in and out of him, struggling to not start fucking the life out of Jake. He wanted him to enjoy it, too. 

Jake’s broken noises slowly turned into moans, which turned into pleading, then begging Michael to go faster. “Fuck m-me, Micha-ael, please.. p-please-“ He was choking out words and Michael gave in. 

He pulled all the way out, slamming back in and watching Jake’s face as he moaned Michael’s name over and over. He was tight and hot which drove Michael mad, moving faster and faster into the merman. 

Jake tried to move his arms, but was unable to. He was clinging onto him for his life by his tail, unable to think. Even with two ways to breathe, he couldn’t seem to catch his breath as Michael pounded into him. 

He gasped when he heard Michael start to quietly grunt. It was the first noise he heard the man ever make. Jake moved to bite Michael’s neck like he did to him earlier, but also to try to muffle his moans as he felt the man pushing farther into him. 

Michael couldn’t get enough of Jake. He was moaning his name, to go faster, deeper, harder right into his ear. He felt everything Jake was feeling, and vise versa. It was strange feeling what Jake could as he fucked him into the sandy ground, but he also enjoyed it. 

“M-MICHAEL!” Jake suddenly screamed out as Michael hit something inside him. “D-do that again.. P-please!” Michael shuffled a bit to try to hit that spot every time, and when he did Jake melted. He couldn’t get out anymore words, just noises and soft whimpers. He was seeing stars. 

Michael needed more. He wanted to go deeper. He grabbed Jake and slid out of him all the way, twisting him until he was laying on the ground by his stomach. Michael had finally stopped pinning the man down, and grabbed his hips. He leaned over Jake and thrust back inside of the smaller man. 

“A-ah! Mmiic.. aahh~” He gripped the ground and quickly locked his tail back around Michael as he thrust deeper inside the merman. Jake couldn’t take it anymore. 

“‘Mm gonn’ c-c-“ Michael reached over with one hand and pushed three fingers in his mouth. Jake instantly started to suck and bite them, closing his eyes and moaning around his hand. 

Michael felt it. The tightness in Jake’s stomach before the feeling exploded. Jake came, screaming out Michael’s name around his fingers. The walls around Michael’s member squeezed, and he knew he wouldn’t last much longer. Michael began to pull all the way out, slamming in as hard as he could until he came deep inside Jake, letting out a low groan as he did. 

Jake flopped on the floor and tried to breathe. He felt like he swam for miles at top speeds. 

Michael rolled over and pulled Jake to his side before gently kissing where he could reach. Jake blushed softly, debating if he should roll over to look at Michael, or if he should stay where he would stay inside him. 

The bigger slowly pulled out of him and flipped Jake over, who quickly wrapped his arms and tail around Michael tiredly. He smiled and yawned, nuzzling into Michael’s neck. 

“I love you.” Jake said quietly and nervously, worried Michael wouldn’t reciprocate the feelings. He looked away, thinking about leaving, when Michael cupped his cheek, kissing Jake passionately. 

Jake blushed and kissed back, smiling softly. He yawned and snuggled into Michael, falling asleep with a faint smile. 

Michael watched Jake sleep, gently petting his hair and hearing him purr tiredly. He held the other close to him before closing his eyes and falling asleep, content with his new life he made. 

Jake was his mermaid, and his alone. 


End file.
